I understood what you're saying, loud and clear and I agree with it. You made the point

"Not sure how many songs Jon wrote but there is no way they got through an entire album in that time frame... I remember day one, song one. And then maybe a few posts after that... And that's it! 20 plus songs completed... At that rate, Jon can put out new albums every four months. "

Implying the album was done, 20 songs completed. I'm only asking if we know that the album is done. From everything I've read, the album is being done in batches. Hell, they could still be in pre-production mode on the rest of it with a few songs in the can.

I really don't like that Shanks can work on the album with Jon not there but I guess its too late in the game to complain about that.