It’s not a bona fide concept LP à la 2017’s The Mission, which imagined a recce to Mars in 2033, but Styx’s 18th album Circling From Above continues the long-running US band’s recent prog-orientated renaissance, as last heard on 2021’s Crash Of The Crown.
Amid a seven-piece line-up with talent to burn, old-hand guitarists James ‘JY’ Young and Tommy Shaw plus founding (and these days part-time) bassist Chuck Panozzo sound galvanised and vital.
Younger co-writers Will Evankovich (guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Lawrence Gowan (piano, synth, Mellotron) prove especially crucial to these hyper-melodic, ingeniously succinct songs.
With Evankovich also acting as producer, drummer Todd Sucherman and Panozzo’s job-sharer Terry Gowan flesh out proceedings on a record ostensibly concerning the ways in which our world’s ever-growing slag heap of obsolete technology can affect us.
The concept may be timely but its execution is a tad on the woolly side – so it’s best to focus on Circling From Above’s inspired, uniformly excellent music.
If there’s initially a Supertramp-circa-The Logical Song-vibe to The Things That You Said, it soon opens out into ELO-ish territory. There’s sometimes a flamboyant rock musical feel, serving as a reminder of Styx’s classic 1981 LP Paradise Theatre.
With the usual surfeit of sublime vocal harmonies, Styx 2025 are anything but a spent force
Elsewhere, Blue-Eyed Raven’s Greek folk elements and The Devil Went Down To Georgia – fiddle courtesy of guest musician Aubrey Haynie – suggests the band’s touchstone is Boat On The River, from their 1979 album Cornerstone.
No Styx LP would be complete without Young hamming it up a tad; and hence he lends his slightly daft Shakespearian baritone to harmonica-imbued rocker King Of Love. As Circling From Above sets out a stall which sounds both vintage and fresh, it’s all part of the fun.
Gowan employs synth tones evocative of blockbuster mid-70s albums such as Crystal Ball and The Grand Illusion, while Shaw and Evankovich trade wonderful guitar solos. With the usual surfeit of sublime vocal harmonies on offer, Styx 2025 are anything but a spent force.
Witness deft, powerful stand-out It’s Clear and Everybody Raise A Glass, the latter an acknowledged nod to 1970s Queen right down to its Freddie Mercury-like piano pomp and lyrical, Brian May-esque solo.
Like recent albums by fellow veterans Jethro Tull or Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks, Circling From Above constitutes a late-period flourish. Not quite the best of times for Styx – but a lot closer to that than one might expect from a band in its sixth decade of existence.
