Much to the excitement of music aficionados worldwide, prog legends Stick Men will be releasing their new album, Prog Noir, on October 21st. It is now available for pre-order as a single disc edition and a super deluxe box set, which contains an additional bonus CD with exclusive material, a double vinyl version of the album, a t-shirt and poster.

The band, featuring members of King Crimson, has also released a new lyric video for  the track, “The Tempest”. A departure from their previous efforts, Prog Noir includes song oriented material, featuring vocals on several tracks.

Says Tony Levin, “The album is somewhere between being the best of our current compositions, and having a unifying concept overall. Part way through the our recording process, the Prog Noir title, lyrics and idea came up - it sort of shone a dark, noir light on what had come before, and it influenced what came after (including some 'noir' instrumental interludes that will be part of the box set version.) For me that's a good way to go - I like a concept involved with an album sometimes, but I don't feel it needs to encompass every piece.”

Watch Stick Men’s “The Tempest” lyric video below:

Stick Men is a progressive rock band created by musicians with extensive experience playing together. Pat Mastelotto and Tony Levin are the rhythm section of the legendary band King Crimson. Mastelotto is in demand all over the world as the premier drummer for progressive rock. Levin plays in Crimson, with Peter Gabriel, and has recorded with John Lennon, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and others. Markus Reuter is a renowned composer/guitarist who designed and plays his own unique touch style guitar.

Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto, the powerhouse bass and drums of the group King Crimson for more than two decades, bring that tradition to all their playing. Levin plays the Chapman Stick, from which the band takes it’s name. Having bass and guitar strings, the Chapman Stick functions at times like two instruments. Markus Reuter plays his 8-string touch guitar – again covering much more ground than a guitar or a bass. And Mastelotto’s drumming encompasses not just the acoustic kit, but a unique electronic setup too, allowing him to add loops, samples, percussion, and more.

The result; audiences are fascinated by watching just three musicians onstage perform their unique compositions as well as wild improvisations and some cover versions of songs by King Crimson, Mike Oldfield, etc.

Before Prog Noir, Stick Men have released four studio CDs (Soup, Absalom, DEEP, Open) as well as two live albums.

Says Markus, “What's unusual about Prog Noir is that we spent years composing it. Usually we get the ideas and quickly turn them into an album or start playing them in on the road. The imperative of a band like ours, that's out on the road touring a lot of the time, is to have new material each year. But this time the idea was to really refine the material, reject all but the best (indeed, there are some very nice pieces that didn't make the cut) and create a really special album that might define our band in terms of where our journey has taken us.”

In support of Prog Noir Stick Men will tour Europe in October 2016, then again in January/February 2017 in the US and Canada. Says Markus, “We love covering a lot of territories, so the future after those booked shows will involve our heading to S. America, Japan, and more places. Yes, we'll have some videos to offer of the new material - hard to describe those now because we're in the process of making them.”

Prog Noir is available in pre-sale in three formats: Signed Limited Edition Combo Package - Deluxe Box Set (2LP/2CD/Poster) with T-Shirt; Regular CD and Download (WAV, FLAC, ALAC and/or MP3-320 formats).

Signed Limited Edition Combo Package Deluxe Box Set (2LP/2CD/Poster) + T-Shirt

The combo package includes:
• 2LP 180 grams gatefold (the LP has a, 11 minute bonus tracks on the Side B of the second LP, which is not included in the regular CD package)
• 2CD special edition of the new album, Digipack. (Disk One is the regular 10 track album. Disk Two contains 8 bonus tracks.)
• Full color poster of the album artwork (17x22 inches)
• Full color T-Shirt (front only). Available in Navy Blue and Black.

All box sets will be signed by all three band members (Tony, Pat and Markus). All orders will be shipped in the late October.

Pre-orders are  $140 USD / 120 EUR plus shipping. Those who contribute $200 USD / 190 EUR or more, will have their names included in credits inside of the box set.

This special box set includes digital pre-order of Prog Noir. Fans will get four tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it's released.

Single CD, Regular Edition of Prog Noir (10 tracks) can be pre-ordered for $17 USD / 15 Euros plus shipping

Download of Prog Noir (10 tracks in WAV, FLAC, ALAC and/or MP3-320 formats) can be pre-ordered for $10 US / 8 EUR

Exclusively available here (orders placed from North, Central and South America, Middle East, Africa and Asia), and here (orders placed from Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia).

(Photo - Kai R Joachim)