My thoughts after my first listen;
First, the t-shirt I got from CMDistro is pretty awesome, nice print on the font.
Second, the packinging is nice, it has a cool fold out poster and a fancy sticker, which is cool. The booklet has very thick pages with fantastic artwork all the way through, with a painting relating to each song. No band pics at all though.
I guess the first word that comes to mind when listening to Dystopia is safe. Things are pretty samey throughout with not much variety and no real stand out songs IMO. Keep in mind it's only my first listen, but this is just Iced Earth by numbers. There's no Dante, Coming Curse, Stygian, Question of Heaven or even Clouding or Framing Armageddon. I will say already that this is much better than the terrible Crucible.
I am a big fan of Stu's voice. I like his work in End of Innocence, another ballad on the album like that would have helped here. I for one like what he is doing in Anthem and the vocal layering is really great. Some songs like the title track shows his diversity, but overall, Jon has held him back. He could have done so much more here. His Barlow impression is amazing and fits the music well, but I do wish he would let him sing like Stu, not Matt. It worked with Ripper and it would have worked here. Stu sounds so confined in what he's been told and allowed to sing.
Also another intersting note is that Stu has writing credits on lyrics on all songs bar Days of Rage and Anguish of Youth, and Troy shares music writing credits on V and Soylent Green. Speaking of Troy, I am pleasantly surprised at his work here. It's still sloppy and too random, but the solos he adds to the songs is quite acceptable.
Schaffer proves that he is the king of the recycled riff. Many moments on the album remind the listener of past IE songs and moments, even sections repeating themselves a couple of times through the album.
A special mention to Iron Will, this sucker should not have been a bonus track. Sure it's Valley Forge 2 but it's certainly top 3 on the album, great melodies.
Overall, these are just my first impressions and I've obviously missed a shit load, but this is decent and I look forward to digging into it and see how much more I can get out of it.