The lineup from SFaM to BC&SL. Jordan entering the band gave them the spark that was needed to revitalize their music after the lackluster effort that was FII. Once Portnoy left, they lost a lot of what made them special although I still think that they're great with Mangini. Considering that three of my top six albums come from the JP, JM, MP, JLB, JR era (SFaM at #1, 8VM at #3, and SDoIT at #6) as opposed to two from the JP, JM, JLB, JR, MM era (TA at #4 and ADToE at #5), one from the JP, JM, MP, KM, JLB era (IaW at #2), and none from any other era, for me it's safe to say that the band was at their peak from 1999-2005 and rode that momentum all the way to when MP left the band in 2010. It's a stretch of time that no other band can come close to matching as far as I'm concerned.