Styx Announces First New Album in Four Years; Listen to New Song

Styx will release its first new album in four years–Crash of the Crown, the band announced.

The band began recording the album in Nashville prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but continued to write songs as the crisis escalated.

The rockers-James “JY” Young (lead vocals, guitars), Tommy Shaw (lead vocals, guitars), Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals), Todd Sucherman (drums, percussion), Lawrence Gowan (lead vocals, keyboards) and Ricky Phillips (bass, guitar, vocals)–will release their 17^th album June 18 on the band’s label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe, which will be sold as clear vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and on digital platforms. Fans can pre-order it here and at Styxworld.com starting Thursday, May 6. 

The title track is a first in Styx history, as it features three vocalists on the same cut–Young, Shaw and Gowan.

“I’m always looking for the one different thing we can do and still have it be Styx, and that’s the song I’m most proud of,” Gowan said in a press release. “The beauty of it is that it’s the culmination of all our talents crammed together into one song, Abbey Road-style. I also got to use some gear I never thought I’d have the chance to play on a Styx record like Tommy’s Hammond B3 organ, my Minimoog and my Mellotron.”

While the album explores dark subjects, the group kept its eyes on positivity and the light at the end of the tunnel–even while recording under the strictest safety measures.

“We’ve never been a protest band. We’re more like a gospel caravan trying to send out positive messages wherever we go,” observes CRASH OF THE CROWN co-creator Tommy Shaw, who joined STYX in December 1975 as a guitarist/vocalist and instantly became one of the band’s most important songwriters. “In order to share those positive messages, you have to look at what the problems are first to figure out all the ways you can help make sure everything’s going to be alright. That’s a very important part of how we do what we do.”

Original Styx bassist Chuck Panozzo, who has played with the band on a part-time basis since 1999, was also on hand to lay down bass tracks on two new songs, “Our Wonderful Lives” and “Lost at Sea.”

“Absolutely no obstacles were going to get in the way of how we approached creating this album,” Shaw said. “And everything came out exactly the way we wanted to hear it.”