CRASH OF THE CROWN

In June of this year (2021), Styx released their 17th studio album, titled "Crash of the Crown". It was their first album in four years after 2017's "The Mission" and for many it was a very welcome release as the previous original studio album was "Cyclorama" from 2003. The new album was also welcomed because "The Mission" turned out to be a very successful piece of work, earning praise from critics and fans alike.

The personnel includes long-time key member, Tommy Shaw, covering songwriting, vocals, guitar and probably that's him on the banjo as well. There's James JY Young on guitars and vocals, who has been with the band since they changed the name to Styx and recorded their first album in 1972. And original founding member, Chuck Panozzo, holds down the bass on a couple of tracks. For health reasons, Chuck has not remained a full-time member over the last couple of decades but always plays on an album and goes on tour to play a couple of tracks when he can. In his stead, Ricky Phillips has kept up bass duties for the last 15 years or so. Completing the line-up are Todd Sucherman, the band's drummer since he took over for ailing founding drummer, John Panozzo back in the mid-nineties before John succumbed to his alcoholism, and Lawrence Gowan on vocals and keyboards, who has carved out a solo career since the 80's in his home country of Canada. Not present, of course, is Denis DeYoung, whose absence for many mean that this band is not really Styx. However, it seems Styx without Denis still maintains a huge following.

For my ears, this album is just brilliant! It features the big sounds, the pomp, and earworm choruses of late seventies arena and pomp rock but has plenty of clever music and lyrics to keep it within the progressive spectrum. The songs are quite short but deliver a lot of music in that short time. A song like the title track goes through three main changes and a couple of good transitions in under 4 minutes. It's almost as if Styx wanted to write a progressive rock album but kept in mind that many people today have short attention spans. So, the music comes in, grabs a hold of your attention, gets your approval, and then is soon replaced by the next melody, riff, or motif. There are wonderful chorus vocals as in "To Those" and "Our Wonderful Lives" and at other times more serious tones. I like the moody atmosphere set in "Hold Back the Darkness" and how Gowan starts singing like a concerned parent speaking to a child that has left home for the first time and is living away on their own, and then Shaw comes in taking the role of the child, saying he needs to learn how to make his own mistakes.

As I mentioned, this is not an album that lets the music sit and build up slowly. There are moments that remind me of The Flower Kings or Spock's Beard, but where those bands might take their time with a musical theme, this album ushers it away shortly as the next thing needs to come it. If bands like The Flower Kings and Spock's Beard serve up full course meals, this Styx album is more like a buffet where you take small portions of many different delicious foods.

I have no strong criticism about this album. Anything critical I might point out is that we didn't get a fast-fingered Gowan piano solo this time; the track "Another Farewell" is a bit of a headscratcher as to why they would put a 26- second orchestral composition on the album; and the final track, "Stream", is short and fades out as the band is building up a guitar solo / organ solo bit. I guess the message is, "The band plays on", but it begins fading out as the solos are getting interesting.

So, one more time, let me say that Styx has released a really fine piece of work here. Everyone is playing their parts so well and crafting some really great music. I really hope that the band will feel they have enough for at least one more album. Denis DeYoung recently released the second disc in his farewell studio album, double album, and I am curious to hear it. But if he's throwing in the towel, I really hope the others are not ready to do so yet.