Dystopia

Cntury Media

Truth be told I was beginning to wonder if Iced Earth’s days of delivering face melting Metal were coming to a close as the last couple of CD’s were a bit stagnant for my tastes; not terrible but also not glorious by any measure of the imagination. With the permanent departure of long time vocalist Matt Barlow (just one album after his return) the future of the band looked bleak at best. However, it was shortly announced that Into Eternity vocalist Stu Block was to become the bands new frontman (the fifth person to hold this position) and there was a ray of hope that shot through me. Although a bit skeptical to his enlistment, being that I’d not really cared too much for his work with Into Eternity, I have always felt he could bring so much more than what was being portrayed with that band, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Much to my amazement Stu has managed to encompass the spirit of every Iced Earth vocalist before him and the band’s latest offering is the finest piece of work they have put forth since the epic masterpiece of Something Wicked This Way Comes in ’98.

With the addition of Stu Block to the bands ranks and a renewed passion for his own artistic methodology, Iced Earth mainman Jon Schaffer has truly redeemed himself in the eyes of the Metal communities. Dystopia the band’s 10^th studio release is a monstrous achievement that captures the essence of what Iced Earth is and has always strived for; a band with no limitations. Power riffs, soaring vocal melodies, thought provoking and imaginative lyrics are the formula found in this complete work of perfection. Every song is well crafted and able to stand on its own apart from the collective; there are no fillers. 

The album explodes with the title track establishing that I.E. have returned in a mighty and powerful way that screams redemption. Highlights of this masterpiece include the supreme offering of “Tragedy and Triumph” which along with its “Dystopia” counterpart is yet another return to Schaffer’s Something Wicked concept, which has appeared on a number of the band's previous efforts. The majority of the albums tracks though, consist of themes relevant to the title and are based on various dystopian themes and movies (“V”, “Dark City”, “Soylent Green”, etc.).Poised with passion and emotion the album boasts just the right amount of heaviness with accented acoustic element as is evidenced gloriously in “Anguish of Youth” and “End of Innocence” By far Dystopia is the most well rounded Iced Earth release since The Glorious Burden.