absolutely. The last three DT releases with MP had 'moments' but all in all were pretty bland. the first three with MM had a much better direction for my ears....
A Dramatic Turn of Events is one of their best albums for Herrick. I'd say top 5.
Yeah, it's my #3 overall (behind Six Degrees and SFAM), so it goes without saying that I love it.
For me that would be the Self-Titled. It's my favorite since probably Train of Thought.
As for Sons of Apollo, I think that the two songs that released were good overall, but not really good enough for me to go and get the album. And I don't think that it's because they weren't prog enough. If we go with a Dream Theater comparison, both Moment of Betrayal and The Enemy Inside had me way more excited for their respective albums than the two Sons of Apollo singles. And both those songs are pretty much straigthforward metal tracks.
I also saw it mentionned a few times, but I don't think that having non-prog musician was actually necessarily a bad idea. It could have brought some interesting influences and make the band sound different than others in the genre. Unfortunately it doesn't seems to be the case so far though.