Earnie Shavers
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Yes, it seems it sped the process up. It seems it was a positive, in terms of new material. Not a negative. Sounds like it gave them the perfect opportunity to focus on it, rather than the previous sporadic bursts/broken mid-tour sessions. They didn't seem to fully stop writing/recording after the release of No Line, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. Somewhere in that break it seems they switched from all of this loose writing/recording thing into a focused, get in a producer, nail it down phase. Bono busting his back doesn't seem like it put the brakes on a release, it seems like it could have accelerated it.
SoA is what they were calling their 'work in progress' from the end of No Line on, for some time. It might even be the name of the next album. It might not. They might consider it it's own, unique thing and not want to touch that material, for any number of reasons - too weird, sounds crap given some space, too traditional etc. They might not. I don't think they are anywhere near as strict in categorisation and classification as you seem to think they are. They have full songs, evolving ideas, basic sketches, hints of things, riffs, vague melodies - and I think to them, it's probably all in the end one pile. At one point, the most fully formed of these - leftovers from No Line - they thought could be the foundation for an album called SoA. At the time of promoting No Line, they only said they had the foundation (can't remember the exact number, but it was 4-6 songs or something), including the 'lead single' in EBW. They thought they could get the rest done and get it out pretty soon after No Line, similar to Zooropa. For whatever reason, or mix of reasons, that changed. At what point - if any - this material was left behind, or evolved along the way with more material as it was created, lord knows. But there's been nothing to suggest that Songs of Ascent is some complete 10+ track album that they finished (properly finished) and then just left on the shelf, before starting again on a range of new material.And they were back to writing/recording almost immediately after the tour first began.
NO one has said that the DM 'is Songs of Ascent' because I don't think there would be too many people here who think of it as it's own album. I think there's no reason why some of the material that originated back then could not have over time gone through several evolutions, perhaps even reaching into the DM sessions. You should lose the idea that Songs of Ascent is a complete, finished, stand alone, wholly separate 'album' sitting on a shelf. It is/was an idea and title based around some complete material, and some work-in-progress material. At some point they either wholly moved on, or as their working moved forward, maybe some of it got brought along for the ride, and perhaps even some superficial parts of it (the title?) are still alive. But it is likely a fluid evolution, either in thinking terms or in pure material terms. Not finish one project, put it to one side, start another wholly new project, put it to one side, start a third with DM, release that with the other two still sitting aside.
Who cares? The album comes out when it's ready.
