“Megadeth” Dystopia – CD REVIEW by Nabil Hossam
The American thrash metal pioneers and one of the “Big Four”, Megadeth, have come up with a new addition to the music industry on the year 2016, which is their 15th album Dystopia. After the fuss we have all witnessed over Super Collider the expectations varied, in fact, it is not easy for a band to release 15 albums and keep all of them at the same level. But Megadeth managed to make a strong comeback with their 15th album. If you are a thrash metal fan this album should be in your waiting list of 2016. Not only because they are Megadeth but also because of how good this album musically as we will talk about below.
After their team-up with Chris Adler, the amazing drummer from Lamb of God, and the great drum works he performed with the team and especially in this album, Dave Mustaine the frontman and the mastermind of the band has declared earlier in 2016 that “He Has Nothing To Do With Us Anymore”, referring to Chris. No matter what the reason was for his departure the great drummer from Soilwork,
Dirk Verbeuren, has joined forced with Megadeth to tour with them at first and now he is more of a permanent member. Both of them are great drummers after all.
So let’s talk about the album, Dystopia contains 11 tracks in addition to 3 tracks for the Japanese Edition. This album has got many merits, the main merit of this album is its beautiful solos, really awesome and well performed solos that played a vital role in forming this album.
The album starts strongly, with a track that had a Middle Eastern intro “The Threat Is Real”, which contained many good melodies and of course a great solo, reminds you of the old Megadeth stuff. A great and energetic start of the album. Followed by the second track “Dystopia” that is named after the album’s title. One of the best tracks of the albums with its catchy riffs at the beginning and almost at the same level and tempo of the first track.
The third track is “Fatal Illusion”, one of the fastest tracks and very good musically. The tempo was slow at first then it started to increase gradually. “Death from Within” is one of the highlights of the album and it is the fourth track, the song is well formed and a perfect example for the perfect thrash metal song. Not to forget to mention the perfect 40 seconds solo which is one of the best of the whole album.
“Bullet to the Brain” is the fifth track and it has got a mellow start, great drum works in that track and the song is a good follow up for the previous tracks and it also contains a great solo. “Post American World” is the sixth track, and it supports the consistency of the album although it is not one of the best tracks. “Poisonous Shadows” is track number seven and its instrumental slow tempo intro is catchy. The overall tempo is slow and it is well placed in the middle of the album. Something kind of relaxing after listening to the past 6 great tracks.
The eighth track is called “Look Who’s Talking”, you can sense the rage from its title and you can hear it in Dave’s voice. The solos were catchy as usual and actually I enjoyed Dave’s vocals the most in this track. And as you can see I keep mentioning the solos in each track as the album is stuffed with them and we should thank the band for that. That is actually what you should expect from a band like Megadeth.
Track number nine is called “Conquer or Die” and it’s an instrumental track. The performance is brilliant all over the whole 03:33 minutes which is the duration of the track and you should expect a track like that from such a talented group. The tenth track is called “Lying in State” and it felt more of a filler track. It’s an average track compared to the other great tracks but you don’t mind listening to it as you go through the album. The performance curve goes up again after “Lying in State” with the eleventh track “The Emperor”. You will enjoy this track musically more than anything, especially with the riffs and the great solo, my second favorite solo of this album after the solo of “Death from Within”. It’s a great end to such a great album.
The album’s cover art is neat too, reminded me of Project Sektor and Cyrax from Mortal Kombat for some reason and it suits the album musically and lyrically too. I give this album an overall rating of 8.4/10. Highlights: “Death from Within”, “Poisonous Shadows” and “Conquer or Die”.
Album’s track-list:
01. The Threat Is Real
02. Dystopia
03. Fatal Illusion
04. Death From Within
05. Bullet to the Brain
06. Post American World
07. Poisonous Shadows
08. Look Who’s Talking
09. Conquer or Die
10. Lying In State
11. The Emperor
Nabil Hossam/MHF Magazine
