Styx's The Mission is their first studio album of new music in 14 Years. This is a return to the band's progressive rock roots, complete with a courageous and visionary concept about colonizing Mars!  It has a coherent story and recurring hooks. Styx have not only produced an outstanding album, but one of the finest albums of their entire career. The story involves an imagined first-manned mission to Mars, undertaken in the year 2033 with the spaceship Khedive leading the way. We as much learn about the ship’s crew members across these 14 songs as we do the Global Space Exploration Program, which the nuclear-powered interplanetary Khedive is part of.

Tracklist:

1.Overture 2.Gone Gone Gone 3.Hundred Million Miles From Home 4.Trouble At The Big Show 5.Locomotive 6.Radio Silence 7.The Greater Good 8.Time May Bend 9.Ten Thousand Ways 10.Red Storm 11.All Systems Stable 12.Khedive 13.The Outpost 14.Mission To Mars

Lineup:

Tommy Shaw - acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, vocals, James Young - electric guitar, vocals, Chuck Panozzo - bass guitar on "Hundred Million Miles from Home", Todd Sucherman - drums, percussion, waterphone, Lawrence Gowan - piano, Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, vocals, Ricky Phillips - bass guitar