I like part 2 a lot but this all should have been 1 album, and then it would have been one of their finest records. Their stated rationale for splitting it (to give me time to digest it all) now rings hollow to me, because listening to part 2, it's not clear what exactly the band felt I needed a breather from. This is nowhere near the dense, draining experience that Parallax 2 or Colors were. And Blot (last track on part 1) and The Proverbial Bellow (first track on part 2) would have made a great 1-2 epic punch in the middle of the album, like that cluster of epics in the middle of Colors. Altogether this comes to less than 70 minutes, and it is not an especially complex record, and neither is it very heavy. I could very easily have taken this in one sitting.
I'm very happy with both 'albums', and I'm also happy to give this band extra cash for the 2 releases if it helps them keep going. But speaking only about the art of the thing, this would have been a truly great album were it all on one disc (easy for me to splice them together, I know, but that's not my point). As it is, both parts when separated leave me wanting more; neither feels like its own fully realised thing. Splitting it feels random.
I give the whole thing an 8/10, and if I imagine it all as one album (as the 'Special Edition With Exclusive Artwork!' will surely release it as about 6 months from now), I rank it 3rd in their discography, behind The Great Misdirect and Colors.