Friday, April 21 — Welcome one and all to The Mission, STYX’s sonically sweet 16th studio album and its most ambitious, most challenging, and most rewarding release to date. The Mission has set for a June 16 release on the band’s label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe. Fans can pre-order the album at any of these online retail outlets and Styxworld.com.
The first single, “Gone Gone Gone,” was released today at radio and online retail outlets. A video premiered on Billboard.com and can be seen below.
“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.”
As 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.”
The Mission is a concept album that chronicles the trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumphs of the first manned mission to Mars in the year 2033. 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.
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.”
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.
“Gone Gone Gone” can currently be streamed or downloaded through Google Play Music.
The track listing for The Mission:
- Overture
- Gone Gone Gone
- Hundred Million Miles from Home
- Trouble at the Big Show
- Locomotive
- Radio Silence
- The Greater Good
- Time May Bend
- Ten Thousand Ways to Be Wrong
- Red Storm
- All Systems Stable
- Khedive
- The Outpost
- Mission to Mars
Source: ABC PR
