MEGASCAVENGER — As Dystopia Beckons (review)

MEGASCAVENGER — As Dystopia Beckons album cover Album · 2016 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"As Dystopia Beckons" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Megascavenger. The album was released through Selfmadegod Records in March 2016. Megascavenger is a Rogga Johansson (Demiurg, Ribspreader, Paganizer, The Grotesquery...) project, who released the "Songs of Flesh (Part I)" EP in 2012, as their first release. Then followed the two full-length studio albums "Descent of Yuggoth (2012)" and "At the Plateaus of Leng (2014)", both which featured H.P. Lovecraft influenced themes and a host of guest vocalists.

"As Dystopia Beckons" also features quite a few guest vocalists. Among others Kam Lee (Massacre, The Grotesquery, Bone Gnawer), Dave Ingram (Benediction, Bolt Thrower, Down Among the Dead Men, and Hail of Bullets), and Adrie Kloosterwaard (Sinister). Stylistically the music and the concept of "As Dystopia Beckons" are a bit different from the two predecessors. The basic style is still old school Swedish death metal, but this time around with an added industrial element and a sci-fi lyrical concept. It feels much more like a cohesive album with a planned tracklist than a compilation of leftover tracks from various other projects, which was often the feeling I got while listening to "Descent of Yuggoth (2012)" and "At the Plateaus of Leng (2014)".

The material on the 9 track, 31:18 minutes long album is well written a relatively diverse within the confines of the genre. There are a couple of tracks which stand out more than the others because they venture into other musical territories. "As the Last Day Has Passed" which features Teddy Möller (Loch Vostok, The Experiment No.Q, The Hidden) on vocals is one of them. It´s a melodic tinged heavy metal/death metal track, with semi-clean vocals. "The Harrowing of Hell" is another standout track. It features clean vocals too (which according to the liner notes, and a bit surprisingly really, are delivered by Kam Lee), and is a goth rock influenced metal track. "Dead Rotting and Exposed" is the most industrial tinged track on the album (although it´s still mostly a death metal oriented track), and the closing title track is a gloomy and eerie sounding noise track. So obviously this is a relatively diverse release. As mentioned above it´s a well constructed album with a dark dystopian sci-fi atmosphere (further enhanced by programmed drums, effects, and synths).

The album features a dark, raw, and powerful sounding production, which suits the material well, and the musicianship (instrumental performances and vocals) is strong throughout. So upon conclusion "As Dystopia Beckons" is the strongest Megascavenger release yet. The concept is interesting, the material is powerful and memorable, and the performances and the sound production are strong too, so it´s a hiqh quality release through and through. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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