US rockers Styx shared the first new music from their upcoming new album, Circling From Above, releasing a video for new single Build And Destroy.
The septet have just announced that they will release their 18th studio album, Circling From Above, through their Alpha Dog 2T/UMe label on July 18, and which the band say looks at the "complexities of the human experience through the intersecting lenses of technology and nature."
The new album continues the more progressive direction the band have taken on recent albums such as The Mission (2017) and Crash Of The Crown (2021), mixing the prog approach of the early Wooden Nickel albums with the melodic hard rock with which they made ntheir name in the late 70s and early 80s.
"When you start writing an album, there's generally something that piques your imagination, and all of a sudden, you’re a storyteller starting with the seed of a story,” says guitarist and vocalist Tommy Shaw. “A good song is like a straight road — it’ll get you to the next place.”
“That little melody, I kept singing Build And Destroy,” explains singer/keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, who takes the lead vocal on the new single. “Even though we don’t sing over that part, I kept thinking that would be a good title. It’s thematic. The melody feels like a little Star Trek or Twilight Zone thing — just a small tag that reinforces the title.”
“We knew it was strong,” Gowan says. “Even though it was the second-to-last song we finished, it felt like a quick way into the album’s overall theme.”
Circling From Above has been produced by the band's guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Will Evankovich, who also produced the band's previous two albums before becoming a full-time band member.
Styx will embark on a summer tour of the US with The Kevin Cornin Band, on what is being dubbed the Brotherhood Of Rock tour.
Pre-order Circling From Above.
Styx: Circling From Above
1. Circling From Above
2. Build and Destroy
3. Michigan
4. King of Love
5. It’s Clear
6. Forgive
7. Everyone Raise A Glass
8. Blue Eyed Raven
9. She Knows
10. Ease Your Mind
11. The Things That You Said
12. We Lost the Wheel Again
13. Only You Can Decide
