Both HMV.co.jp and Amazon.co.jp have posted information stating that the highly anticipated new RUSH album, Clockwork Angels, will be released in Japan on May 23rd via Warner Music. The album was produced by the familiar Rush production team of Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, DEATH ANGEL, STONE SOUR) and engineer Richard Chycki (AEROSMITH, DREAM THEATER).

More details regarding the release will be available soon.

According to Rushisaband.com, Colorado.-based sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson has announced via his Facebook page the news that he will be writing a novelization of RUSH's upcoming Clockwork Angels album.

Anderson writes: "After dropping hints for a while, finally the big announcement, a new project unlike any other I've ever done...and something that I consider very cool.

Most of you are aware of my long-standing friendship with Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist from the legendary rock band Rush, as well as how much Rush has influenced my work. My first novel Resurrection, Inc. was closely inspired by the Rush album "Grace Under Pressure," and I can point to dozens of other novels and stories that bear a clear Rush influence.

For more than twenty years, Neil and I have wanted to collaborate on something MAJOR, a way we could tie together our imaginations, and at last that's happening.

I'm writing the novelization of Rush's forthcoming album Clockwork Angels, their first new CD in five years. Imagine if someone had written the novel of The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when those classic albums were released. For Rush fans, CLOCKWORK ANGELS is that project.

I worked together with Neil to flesh out the epic story told over the course of the music, as well as the artist Hugh Syme whose paintings fill the CD booklet. In a young man's quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. To whet your appetite, Rush released the first two tracks, 'Caravan' and 'BU2B'-listen to those songs to get an idea of the story's beginning.

I'm writing the chapters now, incorporating the lyrics into the narrative, and having a fantastic time. More details to come, but for now-to quote a line from Caravan: 'I can't stop thinking big.'"

Rush recently completed the songwriting and arranging for the album, Clockwork Angels, that the band started in late 2009. The band's production team of Nick Raskulinecz (FOO FIGHTERS, STONE SOUR) and engineer Richard Chycki (AEROSMITH, DREAM THEATER) have putting the finishes to the follow-up to 2007's Snakes And Arrows in Los Angeles with a projected release date of early spring with a tour to follow in November.

Rush recently suffered the traffic loss of famed entertainment photographer and video director Andrew MacNaughtan, who has worked with the band since the mid-80s and was in Los Angeles shooting the members of Rush for the upcoming album.