Just bumping this because I am listening right now unintentionally and felt the need to comment. What I mean by "unintentionally" is, I was listening to The Astonishing and planned to listen to some Symphony X afterward, but BCSL is next on the play list, and although I did not plan to listen to it, I didn't immediately click over to SX, and a bit into ANTR, I decided to just let this one play. Or rather, I decided to let my abbreviated version of the album play--as with SC, I cut out the couple of songs I don't really care for, and just have an abbreviated play list for this one. I eliminated Wither and The Best of Times, and I have to say that I like the flow of the album MUCH better, although admittedly, that makes it even shorter. And given that it is now only 4 songs, it feels like an EP despite still being almost an hour long.
Anyhow, just wanted to say the following: Initially when the album came out, I think I overrated it a bit. But after that, I think it is fair to say that my assessment underrated the album significantly. ANTR is SO close to being a flawless song. AROP is pretty good, and often overlooked. TSF is outstanding, even if flawed. And now that we have Illumination Theory doubling down on the structure of "mellow section in the middle of a long epic that emotionally takes you out of the flow of the song," I have gotten used to it and am not bothered nearly as much as I used to be. This album still does not compare to some of the band's best. But that said, it is outstanding and there is definitely a lot to like.