I recently addressed my lack of ownership of "Lifeline" and I have now listened to it once. I'm not terribly disappointed that I skipped it, but I'll probably only listen to the longer tracks.
I've recently gone back to
Lifeline and have new-found appreciation for the whole album, where as I only used to enjoy the title track and "So Many Roads". The last track is still a bit "eh" as Neal has better ballads (Heck, I'd take "Heaven In My Heart" over "Fly High").
Have you listened to the bonus tracks, "Sometimes He Waits" and "Set The Kingdom"? I'd take those two over the 3 shortest tracks on the main album! For me, the top 3 tracks are still "Lifeline", "So Many Roads" and "Leviathan", with honorable mention to "Set The Kingdom".
If I made the album, this would be the track list:
"Lifeline" - 13:28
"Sometimes He Waits" - 5:23
"Children Of The Chosen" - 4:55
"Set The Kingdom" - 11:00
"Leviathan" - 6:04
"So Many Roads" - 28:43
"Fly High" - 6:31
Nothing against the shorter tracks, "The Way Home", "God's Love" and "Children Of The Chosen", and in fact I like the latter, but I feel like the album might have done better the much stronger "Set The Kingdom" had been on the album instead.
-Marc.