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After a successful debut last year with Resist the Command, Dystopian Records have refined their compilation tactics and have returned with the equally impressive Dystopian Visions. This time around the label has wrangled up far more exclusive tracks, wrapping them in an impressive 36 page booklet designed by Josh Finney, and packed with lyrics, essays, quotes and anecdotes that all deal with the agenda of political and social awareness Dystopian aims to further with their music. This particular release focuses on the future, and all the predictions and imminent consequences that entails. This theme is well suited to a collection of electronic artists, since the future is something that has become increasingly inseparable from technology.

Gun Music is well represented here, with a track and a remix each from Railgun and Takshaka. Snog appears vicariously through Takshaka's remix of "The Future," a distinctly stylized, abstract electro take on the song that leaves David Thrussell's quasi demonic, croaked vocals as the only link back to the original - "I can see the future, and it makes me wish I was blind." Railgun's mix of Assemblage 23's "Skyquake" takes a good track and makes it better, simplifying the vocals, stripping away most of the melodies and adding more dynamic, textural programming and percussion.

Project-X's infectious EBM thumper "Cyberdome," one of the few previously released tracks, is about as catchy as it gets, featuring lyrics that deal with the perceived ills of a technologically dominated society. Stromkern's "Night Riders" has an aggro hip-hop flavor to the vocals and beats, with an underlying epic tinge courtesy of Index's skilled manipulations. Flesh Field add an interesting element with "Utopia," which features melodic female vocals (a rarity on the disc) that sound really good against the distorted industrial rhythms.

This is my introduction to both Injury and ELF, who crop up near the end of the CD. Injury's 1984 inspired "Big Brother" is a short track centered around pulsating synth lines and slow-paced, stomping percussion. ELF's spastic programming, on the other hand, is far more upbeat, with heavy, broken up drum beats and repetitive synth loops continually dodging a web of voice samples. Dystopian Visions closes with Negative Format's club edit of "Distant Pulses," with a persistent 4/4 beat and clean programming gearing it for the dance floor and sinister sounding, processed vocals lending it a darker edge.

This is yet another strong collection of quality electro-industrial music from some of the best artists out there. Dystopian is already back at it for a third that's due out soon, and though no band signings have been made yet they're getting damn good at these compilations.