CIRCLING FROM ABOVE

I must confess it has been decades since I last heard a new Styx album, but I did really enjoy 'Brave New World', and here in 2025 the latest incarnation of the band are back with the 18th studio album of their career. They are now seven-strong, but as long as JY and Tommy Shaw are there then to my mind it is all good. The line-up is James "JY" Young (lead vocals, guitars), Tommy Shaw (lead vocals, guitars), Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals), Todd Sucherman (drums, percussion), Lawrence Gowan (lead vocals, keyboards), Will Evankovich (acoustic and electric guitars, vocals) and Terry Gowan (bass, vocals) and if, like me, you have not heard this band for years then putting this on is like sitting in your favourite armchair, as it is like they have managed to push back time fifty years to when they were in their heyday.

Okay, so the songs may not all be as strong as they were leading up to 'Paradise Theatre', but this is still a really nice album which I have enjoyed way more than I expected to. I honestly thought I would miss Dennis DeYoung's vocals and performance, but that was not the case at all as Lawrence has been there for well over 20 years and is firmly in control, - strange to think he has now been in the band for way longer than the person he replaced. If this has been released in the Seventies then there is no doubt in my mind that it would have been yet another of their multi- platinum releases with songs which have catchy hooks and the Styx trademark sound all over them. It has been many years since they gained the success they so richly deserve but there is no doubt that with this album Styx have proved there is still plenty of life left in the AOR Gods yet and any fan of the classic years needs to hear this as it is a delight from beginning to end.

A lot of people consider Styx to be a "Kansas at home" kind of band. And honestly?yeah they kinda are. Ironic since they came out first before Kansas' self-titled debut, but these bands always have been neck and neck with each other in the whole classic American prog ethos. Obviously I am more of a Kansas fan, but I do enjoy some Styx from time to time. And honestly, I sometimes forget they're still going, especially when I heard they made a new studio album this year. They're such an old band, and they're still going strong. You gotta admit they have determination.

And what surprises me a lot is that this is probably their best record since 1978's Pieces of Eight.

Circling from Above takes all the right notes of Crash of the Crown, and refines its qualities to make something much more charming. It has a good mix of flavorful progressive rock moments that feel right at home in their 70s catalog, whilst also showing a clear love for more of their mainstream elements, with a bit more of a pop edge to the entire thing. I honestly think it's a great direction the band is going, and it makes for some really fun music, such as with the almost power pop It's Clear, or the Queen-like Everybody Raise A Glass. A good mix of prog and pop.

I also like how they managed to make the songs definitely progressive rock, whilst keeping them relatively short. Obviously this can be a bit of a double edged sword in my opinion, as I generally prefer the more longer Styx pieces like Movement for the Common Man, or Come Sail Away. You can only do so much when your longest track is three minutes and fifty four seconds.

But I do admire them for making these little bite sized pieces of progressive rock goodness. Admittedly sometimes not even I, someone who consumes prog rock as if it was water, feel like listening to like eight minutes of a very niche genre. Sometimes you just gotta have that 3 minute track that is jam packed with carefully constructed scores.

Honestly I think this record's biggest charm for me is that it just?doesn't feel old. Like Styx is an old band, but where some long lasting legacy prog rock groups like Yes or Premiata Forneria Marconi clearly show their age, I think Styx, at least with this effort, doesn't really share that sentiment. Yeah it sounds like dad rock, but it doesn't really feel like it. Guess to sound fresh, you gotta just sound your best.

While not perfect, I think Circling From Above is a really great effort from this long lasting band. Would I say any of the songs hold a candle to some of their older bangers like The Serpent Is Rising, Blue Collar Man (Long Nights), or Suite Madame Blue? No. But I think this assortment of songs are still charming in their own right. Perhaps in the 21st century, Styx has lost their "Kansas at home" status. Now that status goes to Toto.

Best tracks: Michigan, Everyone Raise a Glass, She Knows, The Things That You Said

Worst track: Ease Your Mind