A few things here to catch up with the whole conversation...
He may have held onto his beliefs which is admirable, but it isn't without impacting some others. To me, that is against what a band is about. Supposed to be "teammates". So I can only take the admirable part so far. In some ways, I could argue it would be admirable to go against your belief to support your teammates/friend/band/whatever.
-100%
-As for the weakest link? It's Billy. I don't think he takes away from the band at all and he's a hell of a player and actually quite fun to watch live but the other four all have major strengths as far the the unique aspects they bring. I hate to say it but Billy seems somewhat generic. I also hate how he wears his hate slightly off center. It's definitely intentional...and weird.
-Also, SOA's sophmore album is WAYYYYY better than the debut. It sounded like a band!
-Soto has been up front with his vocal issues. He can still sing pretty well in the studio but can't pull it off live night after night. He has a side project called W.E.T. where he sings insanely well but admitted if they ever did any shows, it would be one offs because his voice couldn't handle anything else.
Another thought is that Portnoy may be at a winding down point.
I think it was before the pandemic...maybe a year or so, but there was a string of interviews where Portnoy actually heavily hinted he wanted to start wrapping it up. I have to paraphrase this from memory but it was something like, "I want Max to take the throne so I can retire!" and then later in a different interview he said something about his back and being old and not wanting to play as much. Of course, it came across as kind of light hearted but I don't remember him ever joking about that so I found it peculiar. I think there were some videos at some shows where he was talking to the crowd and standing with his hand on his lower back and standing awkwardly. As someone with back issues I thought, "hey I recognize that stance." It should be noted that he is 15 years older than me and has an excuse for having back problems. I don't...which blows.