Styx is going back to the high concept album on June 16 with the release of The Mission on Alpha Dog 2T/UMe.
The Mission “chronicles the trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumph of the first manned mission to Mars in the year 2033”. The use of an overriding theme and story is something that the band has used many times before, notably Paradise Theatre (1981) and Kilroy Was Here (1983).
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.
Tommy Shaw wrote the story with longtime collaborator Will Evankovich. The album was recorded over a two-year period at Blackbird Studios, The Shop, and 6 Studio Amontillado in Nashville and includes the current six-person lineup of the band, guitarist/vocalist Shaw, co-founding guitarist/vocalist James “JY” Young, keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, original bassist Chuck Panozzo, drummer/percussionist Todd Sucherman, and bassist Ricky Phillips.
The first single from the album, Gone Gone Gone, was released earlier today (April 21).
This is Styx’ sixteenth studio album and their first since 2005’s Big Bang Theory.
The track lists:
CD
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
Vinyl
Side 1
Overture
Gone Gone Gone
Hundred Million Miles from Home
Trouble at the Big Show
Locomotive
Radio Silence
Side 2
The Greater Good
Time May Bend
Ten Thousand Ways to Be Wrong
Red Storm
All Systems Stable
Khedive
The Outpost
Mission to Mars
