Dystopia

Dave Mustaines fifteenth album landed in my inbox back in November, and I have thus had the pleasure of listening to it over and over again, for a long time. It is without a doubt the best work Megadeth has done in many years. You’d have to go back to the early 90’s to find something of better quality. I am of course talking about the albums Rust In Peace, Countdown To Extinction and Youthanasia. It’s not that the eight records in between Dystopia and Youthanasia are bad. Some of them where good, others instantly forgotten with only a couple of good tracks on them. But now Megadeth has returned to greatness and it seems like the band has gotten a new energy infusion, and when I interviewed Dave Mustaine, he agreed with that assessment.

A lot of this new energy must undoubtedly be contributed to the two new members of the band. ‘Deth has always had a revolving door, and a great number of musicians has come and gone, but in new axeman Kiko Loureiro (Angra) and especially drummer Chris Adler (Lamb Of God), Mustaine has a team that can compete with the classic line-up of Megadeth.

The tracks on Dystopia are extremely well written and the album is, besides being fucking great and hard as nails, diverse. Dystopia starts with a bang, gives the listener a chance to come up and breathe, about halfway in, and then cranks up the tempo and intensity again. Everything is build up around Mustaines unrivaled sense of musicality and riffmaking, but he has a team of excellent musicians backing him this time and the whole band delivers the goods.

It is really tough to pick just one track as a recommendation for the entire album, seeing as they are all great, but if you twist my arm, I’ll make the bet that the title track “Dystopia” is a future classic. One which will be included in the band’s setlist many years into the future.

Release date: 22-01-2016
Reviewer: Stampe – Metalized Magazine – Denmark
Score: 9