Update: He Is Legend Crowdfunding Win!

It looked like a risky “all or nothing” situation. It started a month ago when an awesome heavy band, somehow stuck with the status of a crappy one, launched an ambitious campaign to crowdfund the follow-up to their typically rad 2014 album. Their target amount was realistic, yet deep enough into five digits to freak out a couple small-timers among us; a failure to reach that target would return the endeavor to square one. No half-victories.

For this band, though, the campaign went beyond the “how” of a fifth album; on a higher level, it sought the answer to a question of “if.” Ie. If a couple thousand fans didn’t upfront the money for a classy album and its authors’ survival during its creation, would that amount to a final vote of “no confidence” for the band’s future? For North Carolina’s He Is Legend, it might’ve been tough to see it any other way.

That was a month ago. Today, we see that He Is Legend fans have spoken: The campaign’s goal has been met and surpassed with a few days left. Now armed with a mandate from the masses, the men of HIL may now plunge into the process of making an awesome new album and beam lovingly at each fan with whom the HIL vibe has most concretely connected. Fans can fondle their fancy rewards — coffee mugs, autographs, pre-orders — but their real achievement is helping to bring He Is Legend to fans to be.

Throw in for He Is Legend’s fifth album here by Wednesday.