Well, my point was... when you hear Illumination Theory, for example, you listen the orchestral interlude, unless I'm forgetting something it is the first time - Six Degrees Overture aside - that there's only an orchestra in a DT song, so you can go "wow, they've put a completely orchestral interlude in this song". Hell, you can even be surprised at DT' first and never heard before attempt at "growl" vocals on A Nightmare To Remember.
With The Astonishing, it's not that I go "Listen to this song, it's so short! they've never done such a short song!" or "Listen to this song, it's so theatrical, James is acting, there's this weird atmosphere going on, this is unlilke anything they've ever done"... because I already know the album is anything unlike they've ever done. It's a rock opera that spans 2 CDs and has 34 songs. I expect all the weird stuff and song structures never used before, because *the entire album* is based on a different format.
So my point is that if you get a surprise in a normal DT song on a normal DT album, you can be truly amazed. When you get it on a 34 SONGS ROCK OPERA, you still can enjoy it but well, you already knew beforehand things would have been completely different.