the two would gel together. During this time, they wrote two songs together; "End of Innocence" and "Dark City". Writing and recording According to Jon Schaffer, his approach to Dystopia was much more focused compared to previous albums from the last ten years or so. Among other things, Schaffer cited his "awakening" and the following Sons of Liberty project for sparking his interest in Iced Earth again, along with Stu Block joining the band. A large part of the writing was done at Schaffer's home studio in Indiana. According to Block, the way he and Schaffer would go about writing the film-based lyrics was by watching the film, jotting down notes about the plot, and then start writing to the music. The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording between May and July with producer Jim Morris, who has worked as producer/co-producer and occasional musician on all of the band's albums from The Dark Saga onward. The band began master tracking the album in mid July. Songs Musically, the album follows the same pattern as previous Iced Earth albums, containing a diverse collection of material, from songs influenced by thrash and speed metal, like "Boiling Point" and "Days of Rage", to mid-tempo ballads, such as "End of Innocence" and "Anguish of Youth". While not a concept album, many of the album's songs were inspired by dystopian themes and films, such as V for Vendetta, Dark City, Soylent Green, and Equilibrium. Two songs, "Dystopia" and "Tragedy and Triumph," feature the return of Jon Schaffer's Something Wicked Saga, which had previously appeared on the albums Something Wicked This Way Comes, Framing Armageddon and The Crucible of Man. According to Schaffer, the first song, "Dystopia", is "a step back timeline-wise" from the last song on The Crucible of Man, "Come What May". While "Come What May" "sets the scenario that it is up to us and the decisions we make that will determine the future of the human race," "Dystopia" takes place "in a time when people are in highly controlled prison-like city states". This leads to their "eventual emancipation" in the last song, "Tragedy and Triumph". The song "Anthem" was described by Block as a celebration of "people, the human spirit, and life", while "Boiling Point" talks about people who are "at the end of their road". "Anguish of Youth" talks about teenage suicide and "End of Innocence" was about Block's mother who