The hype surrounding the release of this album has bordered on ridiculous. Off the back of two highly acclaimed EPs, this debut full length release from Melbourne trio Midnight Juggernauts has had press kits claiming greatness of interplanetary proportions. This has only been built upon by critics in all the important places singing their praise to the high heavens and beyond. Further to Blur’s 2003 collaboration for the Beagle 2 Mars space probe and Daft Punk’s animated feature Intestella 5555, one could easily be led to believe that Dystopia had outdone them both and been commissioned by NASA for the soundtrack for a new space colonisation. Needless to say that after wading through the mountains of fluffy cosmic flattery, first impressions were that this album bit the preverbial big one and was destined to implode on its own not-so dense matter.

But not being one to write things off under the influence of such hype, the reading material was put away and the album given a further chance to prove itself on the back of its own merits. A tough call for any round piece of shiny plastic at the best of times. Of course the space themed adjectives hadn’t been completely baseless, being in line with a theme dictated by the band themselves. This is reflected in such lyrics as “floating to the edge of the world; floating to the edge of the sea; float off the edge of the ocean; out into the galaxy”.

It’s the bands obsession with the good old fashioned synthesiser that really defines the sound of Dystopia. An obsession the guys have proudly professed to in recent interviews, citing 80s synth pop influences such as ELO. And admittedly there is a charm to this sound they have neatly carved out and branded their own. The digitised sounds elicited from the instrument is responsible for the core of the bands ‘space age’ sound, in a late 70s/early 80s kind of way. A welcome addition to the Midnight Juggernauts line up has been Daniel Stricker on drums. The live beats and percussion sounds provide a grounding point for many of the songs and prevent the sweeping synthethisers and some time falsetto vocals from becoming kitsch disco.

It’s with tracks like Shadows that Dystopia is at it’s best, in which a jacking bass line provides the perfect backbone to dreamy vocals and synth flutters. At the other extreme, but no less effective is the acoustic guitar driven title track Dystopia. It’s with some of the more well known tracks such as Into The Galaxy and Road to Recovery that this reviewer was most disappointed. The tracks are full of life and sound but unfortunately lacking the personality of other offerings on the album.

Dystopia is full of plenty of promise and further blurs the lines between rock and dance music. However there is a sense that Dystopia is trying a little too hard to be something a little too big and unfortunately for this reviewer falls a little too short. But with shows selling out for their current national tour and the lads winning key support gigs overseas, they’ve obviously got their fair share of fans. Check it out for yourself though because if current popularlity means anything it could well be that this here reviewer just missed the boat.

What do you think? Check out the clip for the band’s massive single Road To Recovery below!