Silent Nation

Silent Nation is the ninth studio album by British rock band Asia, released in 2004. It was the last album with longtime vocalist and bassist John Payne, prior to the reunion of the original line-up in 2006. Silent Nation was recorded at Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, and produced, engineered and mixed solely by Payne. The album features a stable line-up consisting of Payne, keyboard player Geoff Downes, guitarist Guthrie Govan and drummer Chris Slade, which had been achieved during Aura (2001) sessions. The album finally broke the tradition of naming Asia studio recordings with a word beginning and ending with the letter 'a'. The exception is Rare (1999), a collection of instrumental music, which was composed only by Payne and Downes, and, thus, may be viewed as their solo album. Silent Nation is also the first album to feature a photograph, not an illustration, as was Asia's trademark.