''Conquering Dystopia'' is the debut album by the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

technical death metal Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Techni ...

band

Conquering Dystopia Conquering Dystopia is an American instrumental technical death metal supergroup founded by solo guitarist Keith Merrow and Arch Enemy guitarist Jeff Loomis. History In early 2013 solo guitarist Keith Merrow announced via his Facebook page t ...

, digitally released on March 10, 2014. On July 8, 2014 ''Conquering Dystopia'' was made available on vinyl and released via

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

History

In early 2013 solo guitarist Keith Merrow announced via his Facebook page that he and former

Nevermore Nevermore was an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1991. The band has been inactive since 2011, due to personal issues between the band members. In April 2015, lead singer Warrel Dane confirmed that Nevermore had n ...

guitarist

Jeff Loomis Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary (band) ...

would record an album together. In July 2013 Merrow and Loomis, now going by the name Conquering Dystopia, launched a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

campaign on Indiegogo in order to fund the recording of the album and announced that the band's lineup would also feature

Cannibal Corpse Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released fifteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radi ...

bassist

Alex Webster Alex Webster (born 1969) is an American bass player who is best known as a member of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse. He is one of two remaining members of the original lineup of the band, along with drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz. He is al ...

and former

The Faceless The Faceless are an American technical death metal band from the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. They released their debut album, ''Akeldama'', in November 2006, and a follow-up, '' Planetary Duality'', in November 2008. The band's third ...

drummer

Alex Rüdinger Alex Rüdinger (born November 18, 1991) is an American drummer. He started playing drums at the age of 13, and since then he has played for numerous metal bands including Conquering Dystopia, the Faceless and Threat Signal. He has also done a ...

. The campaign goal of $15,000 was reached in less than 24 hours. In December 2013 Conquering Dystopia recorded the album at the Audio Hammer Studios with producer Mark Lewis.

Track listing

Personnel

;Conquering Dystopia *

- guitar * Keith Merrow - guitar *

- bass *

- drums ;Guest musicians *

Ola Englund Ola "The Swede" Englund (born 27 September 1981) is a Swedish guitarist, record producer, YouTuber, and the owner of Solar guitars. He is a founding-member of the band Feared, plays lead guitar in the Swedish metal band The Haunted, and is a fo ...

- guitar solo on "Totalitarian Sphere" * Wes Hauch - guitar solo on "Autarch" ;Production * Mark Lewis - producer, mixing *

Eyal Levi Eyal Levi (born May 22, 1979, Cleveland, Ohio).Conquering Dystopia albums 2014 debut albums Albums produced by Mark Lewis (music producer)