The Mission (Styx album)

The Mission is the sixteenth studio album by American rock band Styx, released on June 16, 2017, through UM^e.^[3] It is the band's first studio album since 2005's Big Bang Theory and their first release of original material since 2003's Cyclorama. The album reached #45 on the Billboard 200, propelled by pre-sales prior to its official release date, but fell off the chart after 2 weeks. In an era with limited album sales, total U.S. Sales were approximately 15,000 copies, a far cry from the band's triple platinum past. Yet, the album did briefly reach the Top 100 in four other countries. The concept album tells the story of a mission to the planet Mars in the year 2033.^[3] The album's story was written by Tommy Shaw and Will Evankovich. Evankovich played a significant role, serving as producer and co-writing all but one of the full length tracks.

The Mission
Studio album by Styx
Released	June 16, 2017 (2017-06-16)
Recorded	2015–2017
Studio	Blackbird Studios, The Shop, 6 Studio Amontillado, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	42:00
Label	UMe
Producer	Will Evankovich
Styx chronology
Big Bang Theory (2005) The Mission (2017) Crash of the Crown (2021)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
TeamRock	[2]

The album was conceived in 2015 when Tommy Shaw composed the guitar riff that became the record's closing track, "Mission to Mars". The first lines Shaw wrote were "Now we can say it / This is the day / We'll be on our way / On our mission to Mars". The story was then formed around this idea.

Styx announced the album in conjunction with the release of the lead single "Gone Gone Gone", while "Radio Silence" and "Hundred Million Miles from Home" were later made available prior to the album's release. The LP was expanded in 2018 and re-released in 5.1 surround sound (both DTS Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD) on a Blu-ray disc with visualizations for each song as well as a various music videos from the album and a "Making of the Mission" documentary.

Reception

The album was well received by AllMusic's Stephen Erlewine, awarding the release four out of five stars and considered it a return to form for the band. In his qualitative review, he emphasised the strength of the material harkening back to the band's late 70s material and Paradise Theatre album, despite not having Dennis DeYoung as the band's frontman.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Overture"	Tommy Shaw	Instrumental	1:23
2.	"Gone Gone Gone"	Shaw Will Evankovich James "JY" Young	Gowan	2:07
3.	"Hundred Million Miles from Home"	Shaw Evankovich	Shaw	3:39
4.	"Trouble at the Big Show"	Shaw Evankovich Young	Shaw Young	2:30
5.	"Locomotive"	Shaw Evankovich	Shaw	5:03
6.	"Radio Silence"	Shaw Evankovich Lawrence Gowan	Shaw	4:17
7.	"The Greater Good"	Shaw Evankovich Gowan	Shaw Gowan	4:10
8.	"Time May Bend"	Shaw Evankovich	Gowan	2:30
9.	"Ten Thousand Ways"	Shaw Gowan Young	Shaw Gowan Young	1:22
10.	"Red Storm"	Shaw Evankovich	Shaw	6:04
11.	"All Systems Stable"	Shaw Evankovich Gowan Todd Sucherman	Shaw	0:17
12.	"Khedive"	Shaw Gowan	Shaw Gowan Young	2:04
13.	"The Outpost"	Shaw Evankovich Gowan	Gowan	3:51
14.	"Mission to Mars"	Shaw	Shaw	2:43
Total length:				42:00

Personnel

Styx

• Lawrence Gowan – vocals, piano, Hammond B-3 organ, synthesizers
• Tommy Shaw – vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin
• James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars
• Ricky Phillips – bass guitar
• Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar on "Hundred Million Miles from Home"
• Todd Sucherman – drums, percussion, waterphone

Additional personnel

• Will Evankovich – additional synthesizers, guitars, sound effects, production, engineering

Production

• Alan Hertz – engineering
• Sean Badum – engineering
• JR Taylor – additional engineering
• Jim Scott – mixing
• Kevin Dean – assistant mixing engineer
• Derek Sharp – additional editing
• Richard Dudd – mastering
• Todd Gallopo – cover illustration, art direction & design
• Jason Powell – band photography

Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[4]	56
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[5]	49
Scottish Albums (OCC)[6]	98
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[7]	34
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[8]	10
US Billboard 200[9]	45
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[10]	9
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[11]	22