Ten seconds in and Dystopia is a million times better than Megadeth’s 2013 debacle, Super Collider. Main man Dave Mustaine’s been marinating in conspiracies, cowering in dark corners, waiting for the government to prise his well-clutched gun from him. This is a very good thing.
Former Angra guitarist Kiko Loureiro is the kick up the arse Megadeth needed, akin to when legendary guitarist Marty Friedman ended Megadeth’s old man wanderings in the ‘90s. In that instance they got Rust in Piece out of it. Not that Dystopia is Rust In Piece or anything. Far from it.
Anchored by David Ellefson’s basslines, the bottom-heavy Fatal Illusion is evocative of their classic sound, with twin guitars chattering away; mosh-ready fist pumper Bullet to the Brain tickles with the right amount of thrash; the thinly veiled endorsement for Donald Trump, Post American World, churns on through with Anthrax flavour; and Lying In State feels like a runaway Train of Consequences. There’s even bits of the band’s ill-fated Risk-era, spattering empty spaces with Mustaine’s mangled cat harmonies. And when all else fails, they return to their roots: punk suffused blues, played damn fast.
Megadeth were first in line to try the new way, but it didn’t work that time. They needed a re-jigging of their definitive formula. After all, they’re a thrash band made up of over-50s. If Mustaine can maintain the suspicion he’s being watched, he (and the band) might yield a few more good’uns.
BY TOM VALCANIS
