Dystopia was also the only Iced Earth studio album to feature bassist Freddie Vidales and drummer Brent Smedley until his return in 2015.

[3] Two songs off of Dystopia (the title track and "Tragedy and Triumph") feature the return of rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer's Something Wicked concept, which has appeared on many of the band's previous albums.

[2] During its first week, the album sold over 6,000 copies in the United States and charted in eight countries, including Germany, Finland and the UK.

[13] According to band founder and rhythm guitarist Jon Schaffer, one of the CEOs at Century Media told him about Stu Block.

[15] 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.

So as I was thinking about all of the great movies, albums, and books with dystopian themes, I remembered that conversation and it occurred to me that the Something Wicked story could continue in a few tracks here very nicely.

[2] 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".

[2] The tracks "Anthem" and "Days of Rage" were released early on a promotional EP that came with the October 2011 issue of Rock Hard magazine.

[23] Between September 16 and October 21, Century Media posted five "making of" episodes online, which featured footage from the album's recording process.

[32] The tour edition includes the original full-length album, as well as covers of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" and Black Sabbath's "The Mob Rules", and the 2011 re-recording of "Dante's Inferno".

[33][36] On April 18, 2012, it was announced that Iced Earth (along with Hellyeah) would be supporting Volbeat on their North American tour, starting June 18, 2012.

[37] On the first European leg of the Dystopia World Tour, Iced Earth was supported by Fury UK and White Wizzard.

Jay Brown from Ultimate Guitar named "Tragedy and Triumph" his favorite track on the album,[42] while Ollila called the song "one of the biggest rallifies of Iced Earth's career", and that it makes "an over aged fan boy do a one man circle pit across his living room.

"[8] Mark Gromen from Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles praised Block on how he shows off "his ability to tread the lines of both Tim "Ripper" Owens and Matt Barlow, yet make the song his own"[41] while Chad Bowar also praised Block on how he "brings a varied performance, and delivers the lyrics convincingly no matter if it's an aggressive lower pitched section, traditional singing or belting it out."

Juha Attola felt that the album was too much like the band's previous releases, but still gave positive feedback of Stu Block's vocals.

[46] In the end, Attola "was left with a somewhat subdued image of the album", but recommended it for "fans of the band, and for anyone who likes traditional heavy metal."