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Oh, what joy. Another live release from Styx. Only their ninth such beast. However, if most of the others have been perfunctory, to say the least, this is a cracker. Their best since… well, maybe just their best.

Not only is the track listing stuffed with classics, but Styx themselves are in scintillating form, giving everything the full-on treatment.

From opener The Grand Illusion, the band are in prime pomp poise. They’re even joined by former Eagles guitarist Don Felder for Blue Collar Man (Long Nights). Meanwhile, both Suite Madam Blue and Renegade are majestically primed.

You can even forgive the sheer effrontery and insincerity of the between-song banter, the only thing that matters is that Styx are on top form here.

Classic Rock 215: New Albums H-Z

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Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021.