Out Now: Styx Unleashes New Album, ‘Crash of the Crown’ — an Exercise in Positivity, Recorded Before/During the Pandemic (Listen)

Crash of the Crown is a new studio album from Styx, the long-running band’s 17th overall and first since 2017’s The Mission. Its recording process began before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and upended everything, before the band members reconvened and finished work during that confusing and stressful time.

Despite that context, there’s an undercurrent of positivity and uplift throughout the record, which is out today, June 18.

As guitarist/songwriter Tommy Shaw tells Rock Cellar’s Ken Sharp in our new feature interview, he and his band mates were not about to let the creeping discomfort and uncertainty of the pandemic negatively affect their songwriting:

“Well, it’s how we were all brought up. We were raised up with pretty positive influences in the family. My mother would always say, “Things are going to work out the darkest hours. It’s all going to work out.” I would always resist and go, “You don’t know that!,” but she was right. We generally fight our way out of whatever bad we’ve found ourselves in and come out into the sunlight and the fresh air. It’s almost like an old gospel thing, things might be dark today but it’s all going to be all right, you know, that optimistic view. And generally usually things always pretty much do work out. There may be some hardships getting there.

“So that’s just naturally how we write in Styx. We never have and ending like, “we’re all gonna die!” (laughs)

Styx (Photo: Todd Gallopo)

The album also marks an interesting first in the band’s vaunted career — the use of three different lead singers on the title track (with Shaw, Lawrence Gowan and JY Young all taking turns on the microphone):

Click here to pick up Crash of the Crown on CD from our Rock Cellar Store
Click here to pick up Crash of the Crown on LP from our Rock Cellar Store

Styx is out on the road right now on a short tour supporting the record, and they will be joined by Collective Soul through June 27:

With Collective Soul:

Fri 6/18 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Sat 6/19 Southaven, MS Landers Center
Sun 6/20 Brandon, MS Brandon Amphitheatre
Tue 6/22 Louisville, KY Waterfront Park
Thu 6/24 Lincoln, NE Pinewood Bowl Amphitheatre
Fri 6/25 Bonner Springs, KS Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre
Sat 6/26 Camdenton, MO Ozarks Amphitheater
Sun 6/27 Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheatre

And the band’s extended run of headlining dates, which go into early 2022:

Sat 7/3 Dubuque, IA Five Flags Center
Sun 7/4 O’Fallon, MO O’Fallon Heritage & Freedom Fest
Fri 7/9 Prior Lake, MN Lakefront Music Fest
Sat 7/10 Greenville, WI Greenville Lions Park/Catfish Concert
Sun 7/11 West Fargo, ND Red River Valley Fair
Thurs 7/22 Fort Wayne, IN Sweetwater Performance Pavilion
Fri 7/23 Kettering, OH Fraze Pavilion
Sat 7/24 York, PA York Fair (with REO Speedwagon)
Sun 7/25 Whitehouse Station, NJ New Jersey Festival of Ballooning
Thu 7/29 Youngstown, OH Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre
Fri 7/30 Sharpsburg, KY Barnyard Amphitheatre
Sat 7/31 Jim Thorpe, PA Penn’s Peak
Thu 8/5 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckard Hall
Fri 8/6 Augusta, GA The Bell Auditorium
Sat 8/7 North Charleston, SC North Charleston PAC
Sun 8/8 LaGrange, GA Sweetland Amphitheatre
Tue 8/10 Norfolk, VA Chartway Arena
Wed 8/11 Durham, NC Durham PAC
Fri 8/13 Sylvania, OH Centennial Theatre
Sun 8/15 Lewisburg, WV State Fair
Wed 8/18 Des Moines, IA Iowa State Fair
Thu 8/19 Evansville, IN Aiken Theatre
Sat 8/21 Woodstock, IL McHenry County Fairgrounds
Sat 9/4 Milwaukee, WI Summerfest
Wed 9/8 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
Thu 9/9 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
Sat 9/11 Brighton, CO Adams County Amphitheatre
Tue 9/14 Salt Lake City, UT Utah State Fair (with REO Speedwagon)
Wed 9/22 Puyallup, WA Washington State Fair (with REO Speedwagon)
Fri 9/24 Las Vegas, NV The Venetian Theatre
Sat 9/25 Las Vegas, NV The Venetian Theatre
Sun 9/26 Las Vegas, NV The Venetian Theatre
Fri 10/1 Atlantic City, NJ Tropicana Atlantic City
Sat 10/2 Waterloo, NY The Vine at Del Lago
Fri 10/15 Lake Charles, LA Golden Nugget
Sat 10/16 Arlington, TX The Levitt Pavilion Arlington
Thu 10/21 Amarillo, TX Amarillo Civic Center
Sat 10/23 Austin, TX Nutty Brown Amphitheatre
Sun 10/24 Helotes, TX John T. Moore’s County Store
Thu 11/18 Ralston, NE Ralston Arena
Fri 11/19 Salina, KS Stiefel Theatre
Sat 11/20 Springfield, IL Sangamon Auditorium
Thu 1/6/22 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium

Give Crash of the Crown a listen below.