Iced Earth certainly fell short of turning into what they had the potential to become while Tim 'Ripper' Owens sang for the band and then even Matt Barlow's return couldn't save 'The Crucible of Man' from sinking into the abyss of mediocrity. Lucky for us, after the last departure of his signature frontman Iced Earth's sole leader Jon Schaffer has managed to find the perfect replacement – Stu Block from progressive death metallers Into Eternity. It is convincing enough to hear how the newcomer juggles between his two predecessors' vocal styles on the opening title track from the band's new album 'Dystopia' to know Block is the man. The whole shift from more Barlow-style guttural vocals to high shrieks like Owens also takes place over some of the heaviest and most inspired thrashfest you've heard on an Iced Earth record in a while. There's a sci-fi movie inspired dystopian thread that could be followed through the album – songs with the same names are based on movies like 'Dark City,' 'Soylent Green' and 'V for Vendetta' – but forget about the band's previous few releases whose ambition often fell on its face. Here Mr. Shaffer doesn't try to outdo his own abilities as a composer and instead he keeps the songs short, tight and focused. And it works. Without being anything unheard of, especially in Iced Earth's ctalogue, songs like the crushing 'Anthem', the riff meatgrinder 'Days of Rage', the multi-part epic 'Dark City' and the inevitable awesome ballad 'Anguish of Youth' are certainly catchy. The production is quite raw but this is no downside, as it makes the album sound tougher. And the story actually ends on a positive note – 'Tragedy and Triumph' is an uplifting heavy metal anthem, telling the story about how the people rose up and swept away the tyrants. In a similar manner, and contrary to the dystopian darkness that the album emits, 'Dystopia' paints a future for Iced Earth with Stu Block that is actually quite bright.