Welp. Back from a several-year absence. As someone who haaaaaated DT12 and the Astonishing, this is a pleasant surprise. Mostly. I dig all of Petrucci's solos. I appreciate the audible bass even if it sounds like Myung has fallen into a now-tired "Darkglass pedal metal bass" tone, and I'm always a fan of Rudess on piano.
There are still a bunch of issues. There are only a handful of really catchy choruses, still quite a few tracks that are absolute duds (which I was hoping wouldn't be the case since they made this album shorter), and the vocal melodies on the whole are really lackluster. I imagine its because James needs to hit these live, so he writes stuff that's easier to hit with his current range. Speaking of James, wtf is with all the reverb on his voice? I'm not sure it helps. It buries his voice rather than making it feel bigger (which I imagine was the original intent). Unfortunately I think only Barstool Warrior and At Wit's End are the only tracks that can compete with the best of their pre-DT12 material.
All that being said, it is so much better than DT12 and the Astonishing. 6/10.
Track ranking:
1. Barstool Warrior - Why did they have to give the best song on the album the dumbest name. Lot of Fish-era Marillion vibes on this one but it all works really well. Kind of reminds me of "A New Beginning" in that way, but with better lyrics.
2. At Wit's End - Oh hey DT remembered how to write good long songs.
3. Untethered Angel - Surprisingly good single and one of the better choruses
4. S2N - Lots of great ideas here (it starts off as a real banger except for that stupid robot voice). Could do without the keyboard solo at the end.
5. Out of Reach - Start off with Wither vibes on this one. Pretty good ballad.
6. Fall Into the Light - Big fan of Petrucci's solo but the first half is just okay.
7. Paralyzed - The now-traditional heavy DT single. Its not bad, its not great.
8. Pale Blue Dot - Oh crap DT forgot how to write good long songs. Okay in fairness it starts off well and then just gets bland. I wonder if Jordan has hidden the existence of envelope filter pedals from JM, because if JM ever finds out about them, Jordan's snarling pig patch is basically obsolete.
9. Viper King - I will hand it to DT, "Deep Purple soundalike novelty song" was not something I would ever expect from them. Unfortunately, James has trouble consistently singing in his upper register even in the studio.
10. Room 137 - Boring and bland.