Megadeth - Dystopia

Dystopia is the sound of Megadeth snapping back into fighting shape, a 2016 album that reminded everyone how lethal Dave Mustaine's thrash machine could be.

The band's fifteenth studio album introduced Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro and featured Lamb of God's Chris Adler behind the kit, with David Ellefson holding down the bass. Mustaine coproduced with Chris Rakestraw, and the fresh blood shows: the riffs are tighter, the solos more daring, and the songs fixated on a world sliding toward collapse.

The title track earned the band a long-awaited Grammy for Best Metal Performance after years of nominations, and it deserves the trophy, with a galloping riff and a lead break that Loureiro tears through with real flair. The Threat Is Real opens the album at a furious sprint, Fatal Illusion rattles along at full tilt, and Post American World stomps with apocalyptic weight.

Mustaine's snarl is as sharp as ever, and the twin-guitar interplay recalls the band's late-eighties peak without ever sounding like a nostalgia exercise. Ellefson and Adler lock in like a wrecking crew underneath.

For metal fans who drifted away somewhere along the line, this is the record that makes the case for coming back, and it hits especially hard spinning on vinyl at full volume.