Styx Commands the Crown

Might Styx take the crown for first post-pandemic band? It’s a strange thought, and probably a pointless one, but the band’s new album, Crash of the Crown, is elliptically about the hope and expectation as we break out from lockdown, bursting our self-imposed and government-prescribed bubbles.

Indeed, the record, arriving admirably soon after 2017’s , is the product of these bubbles, with guitarist Tommy Shaw and his songwriting partner Will Evankovich doing much of the work in Nashville together at Shaw’s home studio, taking visits from keyboardist Larry Gowan and co-bassist Chuck Panozzo, but with much of the work happening remotely, utilizing modern technologies. So there are workspace bubbles but also manpower bubbles at hand, each Styx