Jethro Tull Announce New Album ‘The Zealot Gene’
Jethro Tull have announced details for the group’s first studio album of new material in over 18 years. The prog rock masters’ newest offering, titled The Zealot Gene, will be released on 28 January 2022.
Jethro Tull made their name with a string of albums that saw them establish themselves as one of the biggest prog bands of the 70s, including Aqualung, Thick As A Brick, Passion Play, Songs From The Wood and Heavy Horses, among many more. The band have over 30 albums to their name, with sales totaling more than 50 million
To give Tull fans their first taste of the new record, the group has released the first single from the album, titled Shoshana Sleeping, accompanied by a stunning visual created by Thomas Hicks.
A record that began to take shape as early as 2017, The Zealot Gene, in many ways, seeks to defy convention during a time when the business of being a touring and recording artist has never faced more uncertainties. Tull bandleader Ian Anderson holds no reservations about the role for which the mythos and themes of Biblical storytelling played in the lyrical content of the new album, saying:
“While I have a spot of genuine fondness for the pomp and fairytale story-telling of the Holy Book, I still feel the need to question and draw sometimes unholy parallels from the text. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly rear their heads throughout, but are punctuated with elements of love, respect, and tenderness.”
Looking back on the earth-shaking disruption of the Coronavirus pandemic, which ultimately ended the band’s touring plans and hopes of a 2020 release for The Zealot Gene, Anderson reveals, “It was so sudden. Amidst the concerns and warnings of the scientific community and a few more enlightened politicians, we all retreated in disbelief to our homes to wait out the storm.”