Megadeth
Dystopia
MP3 | CD | Vinyl
Label: T-Boy Records/UMe
Release date: January 22, 2016

After 20 or so years of churning out several mediocre (at best) albums, Dave Mustaine and company are back with their fifteenth studio album Dystopia. There has once again been a major shakeup in the Megadeth lineup as both guitarist Chris Broderick and drummer Shawn Drover exited the band in the wake of the previous album, 2013’s abysmal Super Collider. The two musicians continue to play together in a new band known as Act of Defiance. Their replacements are former Angra guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Chris Adler who is pulling double duty with both Megadeth and his own band Lamb of God.

Apparently, the fresh blood was just what the band needed to get back on track; Dystopia is far and away the best Megadeth album in many, many years. The record kicks off the blistering rocker “The Threat is Real.” It is a track that is destined to take its place as a staple of future live shows and features some top-shelf fret work from Loureiro. You can check it out via the official video here below. The song “Dystopia” is novel in that the intro sounds like something out of a 1980s Miami Vice episode. Mercifully that vibe doesn’t stick around long. The track takes off and morphs into the best title song in the Megadeth canon since “Peace Sells (But Who’s Buying?)”. The video for “Dystopia” can be seen here below as well.

“Fatal Illusion” and “Death From Within” keep the ball rolling along at full steam before the wheels start to fall off with “Bullet to the Brain.” From this point on, Mustaine’s born again, conservative, conspiracy theory lyrics begin to overshadow the excellent musicianship that accompanies them. Some of the tracks are just outright regrettable including “Post American World” and what may be one of the band’s worst ever, “Foreign Policy.” That’s not to say that it’s all bad though. The second part of the album has some highlights, including the excellent track “Poisonous Shadows” and a killer cover of Budgie’s classic “Melt the Ice Away.”

Hopefully this lineup of the band holds up for a while, because it seems like Megadeth has begun to bail the water out of what seemed like a sinking ship for many years. If you have ever been a fan of their work, you owe it to yourself to check out Dystopia. Just don’t try to analyze the lyrics too closely unless you’re into Mustaine’s peculiar brand of crazy.

Rating 8.0 out of 10

Megadeth “The Threat is Real” Official Video

Megadeth “Dystopia” Official Video