Guest blogger Neil Sanderson of Three Days Grace checks in as a regular contributor with an exclusive column for Loudwire. In this piece, the drummer gives us a recording update on the band's highly anticipated new album, shares some tales from the road and offers up video of the band taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to a new extreme. Check out Neil Sanderson’s latest blog, along with the accompanying video, below:

Summer may be over, but we've got so much exciting stuff coming up that I hardly noticed. We spent the last couple weeks cramming in the studio to finish up a few songs before heading to Europe, and now we’re in Berlin, Germany. Tonight is our third show of our European tour. I can't believe this tour is here already. And it's no small tour either. Last night we played in Amsterdam and London the night before … both killer shows and awesome crowds.

Tomorrow we head to Belarus for a day off and a show in Minsk, then we play THIRTEEN shows in Russia! We've never been to Russia but it seems the fans are feeling the anticipation just as much as we are! Our social media sites have been blowing up with people from Europe offering us vodka and latkes when we get there! We'll definitely be doing a lot of video documenting on this tour, and we'll be making it available real time online. I think we're travelling by air to almost all the shows so we will have plenty of time to capture our travels and edit the video so we can share them with fans. Oh and sleep if there's any extra time.

Other than locking ourselves in the studio over the last while, we played a couple super cool shows out west; One in Vancouver, and one in Alaska, which was the only state where we had yet to play, and it was one to remember to say the least. Aside from unbelievable scenery and wildlife, it was by far the best salmon fishing I've ever done. Barry [Stock] went moose hunting, and the highlight was definitely taking a helicopter to the top of a glacier. It wasn't just any helicopter trip though. Our pilot's nickname was "Maverick," and he threaded us through a series of glacier peaks (he called the Death Star), narrowly dodging certain death! (that's what it felt like anyhow).

We also decided to support the ALS cause by donating, as well as doing our part to raise awareness by filming the Ice Bucket Challenge up on top of the glacier! Check out the link at the bottom of this post.

As far as the record, it's almost done, and will be coming out early next year. It's turning out to be pretty heavy musically, a lot like our first couple albums. Our newest single, 'I Am Machine' is hot off the press and about to drop very, very soon. We also filmed ourselves during the recording process for the song, and will be making it into a lyric video where you can see how it all went down.

Watch Three Days Grace Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Our thanks to Neil Sanderson for contributing his latest column to Loudwire. If you haven’t already picked up the band’s new single, ‘Painkiller,’ visit iTunes to purchase the song. Follow Three Days Grace on Facebook and Twitter.

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