STYX To Return With A New Album 'Mission' After 14 Years

Welcome one and all to THE MISSION, STYX's 16th studio album. The first single, "Gone Gone Gone," was last week at radio and online retail outlets.

"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."

THE MISSION is a 43-minute thrill ride that chronicles the trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumphs of the first manned mission to Mars in the year 2033.THE MISSION--which was recorded over a two-year period at Blackbird Studios, The Shop, and 6 Studio Amontillado in Nashville--displays the best aspects of the ongoing in-harmony musical intersection of the six-man STYX team: the aforementioned guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, co-founding guitarist/vocalist James "JY" Young, keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, original bassist Chuck Panozzo, drummer/percussionist Todd Sucherman, and bassist Ricky Phillips.

"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," said James "JY" Young.

"THE MISSION is a deep, conceptual, and cinematic epic that offers listeners a thrilling emotional journey -- and all 'cast' with impassioned guitar parts and those textured, 'chill-inducing' Styx vocals.

Guitarists Tommy Shaw and James Young sound like they're energetic upstarts with something to prove, rather than members of a band with decades of history.

This is a truly brilliant soundscape, as well as a tribute to the evocative power of the guitar." -- Michael Molenda, Editor-in-Chief, Guitar Player

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.

"Styx have really delivered a welcome addition to their catalog with the arrival of THE MISSION, which wraps in all of the important elements of their much loved classic sound, with a wealth of big hooks, anthemic choruses and most importantly, an album's worth of really good Styx music." --Matt Wardlaw, UltimateClassicRock.com

THE MISSION has duly been set to release on June 16 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 MISSION Tracklist

CD/Digital:

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

Vinyl:

1. Overture (Side A)

2. Gone Gone Gone (Side A)

3. Hundred Million Miles from Home (Side A)

4. Trouble at the Big Show (Side A)

5. Locomotive (Side A)

6. Radio Silence (Side A)

7.

The Greater Good (Side B)

8. Time May Bend (Side B)

9. Ten Thousand Ways to Be Wrong (Side B)

10. Red Storm (Side B)

11. All Systems Stable (Side B)

12. Khedive (Side B)

13. The Outpost (Side B)

14. Mission to Mars (Side B)