Styx news

Styx will finally treat fans to new music.

The Mission, the classic rockers' 16th studio effort, will arrive June 16 via Alpha Dog 2T/UMe. Fans can pre-order the album at any of these online retail outlets and Styxworld.com.

First single “Gone Gone Gone” was just released at radio and online retail outlets. A video premiered on Billboard.com and can be seen here.

“The planets truly aligned for THE MISSION, and I couldn’t be prouder,” says vocalist/guitarist Tommy Shaw, who co-wrote the album’s storyline with longtime collaborator Will Evankovich (Shaw/Blades, The Guess Who). “It’s our boldest, most emblematic album since PIECES OF EIGHT.”

Founding guitarist James “JY” Young continues, “In the 40th anniversary year of our release of our biggest selling album of all time, GRAND ILLUSION, it just seemed truly appropriate to save our new studio album until this year. Needless to say, I’m very excited.”

Recorded over a two-year period at Blackbird Studios, The Shop, and 6 Studio Amontillado in Nashville, it displays the trademark harmonies of Shaw, Young, keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, original bassist Chuck Panozzo, drummer/percussionist Todd Sucherman, and bassist Ricky Phillips.

The new music was created to reflect the viewpoint of the six-person crew enlisted for the maiden voyage of Khedive, the first entry in a new fleet of nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft underwritten by the Global Space Exploration Program (or GSEP, for short). The Khedive team consists of The Pilot, a fully hands-on, seat-of-the-pants born leader; a First Officer who serves as the team’s big-brother figure; an Engineer who is skeptical of every phase of the mission but remains confident in his own abilities to make the best of any technical situation; and a Top-Shelf Trio of science, astrophysics, and survivalist experts.

“The album feels simultaneously comfortable and new,” observes Gowan. “It’s both entertaining and charming, and a natural progression of our sound.” Concludes Panozzo, “THE MISSION is a sincere and honest representation of how STYX built upon where we were in the 20th century in order to go somewhere new in the 21st century.” And that’s the gist of THE MISSION, STYX’s bold sonic voyage into an exciting new frontier with the goal of discovering how the universe’s mysteries unfold—and then creating the perfect soundtrack to accompany it.

Track listing: 

1. Overture
2. Gone Gone Gone
3. Hundred Million Miles from Home
4. Trouble at the Big Show
5. Locomotive
6. Radio Silence
7. The Greater Good
8. Time May Bend
9. Ten Thousand Ways to Be Wrong
10. Red Storm
11. All Systems Stable
12. Khedive
13. The Outpost
14. Mission to Mars

Pre-order link:
https://UMe.lnk.to/TheMission

“Gone Gone Gone” stream or download link:
https://UMe.lnk.to/GoneGoneGone

“Gone Gone Gone” video link:
https://UMe.lnk.to/GGGYT

styxworld.com