Conquering Dystopia - S/T (2014)

One of the fastest evolving genres in metal right now is the instrumental metal music. Several bands like Animal As Leaders and Scale The Summit has gained some good recognition thanks to their fine musicality and ability to create a story without any lyrics. Then we also have the already established artists like Steve Vai, Buckethead and Joe Satriani that started the genre and has helped it move forward. One of the newer exciting acts in instrumental metal is Conquering Dystopia, a death metal band formed by former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis and current Merrow and Demisery guitarist Keith Merrow. Together with the bassist Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) and the drummer Alex Rüdinger (The Faceless, Ordinance), they create a hard hitting quartet that takes the instrumental genre to new undiscovered territory.

Since there are already well experienced artists in Conquering Dystopia, you can be sure that the instrumental skill level is good enough. Keith and Jeff shares brotherly between the solos while Alex R. charges with fast double base and crunching blast beats. And Alex W. is also doing a very solid work, even if he is not as prominent as his companions.

My main concern before listening to the album was if the band could make different types of songs so it all would not sound the same. That concern disappeared quickly after the first listening session. "Conquering Dystopia" offers a good range of songs, from the neck breaking "Inexhaustible Savagery" to the more delicate "Lachrymose". This diversity makes the album a whole lot easier to listen to, and it is also allowing the members to show off their whole registry.

Musically speaking, I would say that "Conquering Dystopia" consist mostly of technical death metal beats with some very small intentions from the djent scene. And the musical structure is clearly stable enough support the songs both individually and as a whole album. But somewhere in the music, I can almost hint that this project initially was considered as a "normal" band with vocals. I am ultimately glad that they did not add a vocalist to the line up since this instrumental approach feels more original and more interesting.

I for one, welcome Conquering Dystopia's arrival and its music. It felt like it was only a matter of time before death metal would do its debut on the instrumental scene, and it feels good that someone has finally made it happen. "Conquering Dystopia" is a very promising start for this newly started project, and I hope that this band is the start of a new era in the instrumental metal scene.

Songs worthy of recognition: Inexhaustible Savagery, Prelude To Obliteration, Lachrymose, Destroyer of Dreams

Rating: 8,5/10 Doomsday Clocks