Review Summary: Yes it's better than Super Collider.
It would be hard to review ”Dystopia” without first mentioning Megadeth's 2013 record “SuperCollider”. That album was for the most part a hard rock affair, and without much of the impressive guitar play found in most of the bands discography. Dave's poor voice and cheesy songwriting just flat out failed to work. Two years and two members leaving later and “Dystopia” is the first album made with new members Kiko Loureiro and Chris Adler. Unfortunately they don't have as much of an impact on changing the band's sound as I was hoping for. This album has lots of thrash metal which is great, but unlike “Endgame” it brings nothing new or even all that memorable to the table. The subject matter is par the course for Megadeth with society falling apart and all that, but it still works fine for the band.
The first three tracks of the album "Fatal Illusion",”Dystopia”, and "The Threat Is Real" start things off on a high note. Each of these songs sound allot like classic era Megadeth. In particular the title track is an album highlight with a pummeling transition in the last third of the song. Then along comes “Post American World” which has everything I dislike about this album contained in one song: weak intro, too much chugging, as well as poor chorus and vocals. Dave's vocals have never been great, but where they where pissed off and defiant before they are now very un-dynamic and flat. It makes sense that a 54 year old wouldn't be able to hit the same ranges as before, but unfortunately the flatness makes many of the songs blend together. It is fortunate then that the one instrumental on the album “conquer or die!” is really good, although it doesn't quite come close to “dialectic chaos”. The final song I really enjoyed from the album is “Poisonous shadows” with it's Opeth style acoustic intro and build up it is the only place on the album where I really liked the utilization of an intro; in addition to that Dave's voice is pretty good here.
In conclusion this is a slightly above average metal release. After Super Collider most Megadeth fans will be satisfied with this return to form, but most newcomers to the band will probably be scratching their heads as to why this band is considered one of the best metal groups of all time.
