Vocalist Tom Jordan says he didn't know it would almost kill him before it was done.

"The worst thing about recording was self-treating my heart arrhythmia," he said. "I hid symptoms from my cardiologist for three months, hoping to complete the album without having to endure a bunch of tests. When your heart races and skips beats, it's hard to focus on singing."

But it's a focus Tom, and the rest of Chin's Mojo, were determined to maintain. The original completion date was April, 2013, which allowed 6 months for the completion of the 12-track CD.

Members have run a small Dallas recording studio for five years, so they knew both the drawbacks and advantages of going it on their own. The autonomy was priceless, but the challenges were huge.

"Each step in the recording process was more detailed and complicated than our previous album [The Mighty Chin's Mojo]," Tom said. Arranging music for the symphony, editing and crafting details consumed five months alone.

By March, Tom said, the demands of the project were beginning to take a physical toll.

"I slept on the studio floor. Some days, I was down with unexplained muscle weakness and exhaustion." Determined not to stop, he self-treated the fatigue with high-potassium foods.

Then then was the arrhythmia. Tom hoped it would go away on its own, but it didn't. When he checked his glucose level, it had skyrocketed: "Pizza and potatoes will do that if you don't pay attention for a few months," he said dryly. "I quit eating to lower my blood glucose … I had a couple of scary brushes with passing out in the studio."

But the orchestra tracks are breathtaking. They push Chin's Mojo beyond the routine pattern of two guitars, bass and drums, and toward the perfection that songwriters imagine in their heads. When money ran short, band members maxed out their credit cards to reach that perfection with new compressors, a 12-string bass guitar, microphones and a second computer. They bought new guitar amplifiers to acquire the tones they wanted for specific songs.

Broke, exhausted, half-sick, and four months late, Chin's Mojo finished its astounding new album, "Man O'War," a grand-scale, epic release.

"It could not have been accomplished any sooner, or with less effort," Tom said. "We are proud to have realized our vision, and of all our hard work." The proof of the effort is in the gorgeous result.

"Man O' War" will impress your ears - and your heart.