The much beloved to the Greek audience Iced Earth returns with its 10th studio album and what a splendid comeback this is! Having tasted (once again) the disappointment of Matt Barlow’s departure, we didn’t really know which would be Jon Schaffer’s next step. Luckily for all of us, the new singer Stu Block proved to be a great choice as he does a hell of a job and he must already be considered as a brilliant choice. On a side note, though, he must take it a little bit easy on the high notes and remain to the regular medium voice pitch as it suits him far better…but this is just an observation.
 
“Dystopia” is truly a really good and remarkable effort for Iced Earth and Jon Schaffer has gone beyond the call of duty on delivering some of his best songs by blending the best parts of the two worlds (Ripper and Barlow eras). From my perspective “Dystopia” lays comfortably in between the atmosphere of “Something Wicked…” and “Framing Armageddon” while Schaffer is absolutely on fire behind his guitar! All the trademark Iced Earth elements can be found in “Dystopia” and I am absolutely certain that all the fans would cherish the new album.

Highlight: “Anguish of Youth” is an outstanding track and the fact that it is fourth on the tracklist brings subconsciously in mind another classic Iced Earth song that was also on the fourth position of an album…