Yep, it's still too early to accurately edge TA, but in time, I can see it topping the first two Mangini albums, for me anyway.
Amazingly, I am starting to like DT12 as much as ADTOE. ADTOE's best two or three songs are better than anything from DT12, but DT12 is so freaking consistent (every song is an 8 or 9 out of 10). Nothing on ADTOE is bad, but I am still pretty bored with On the Backs of Angels, and while I like both Outcry and Lost Not Forgotten, neither get much play with me anymore.
I was telling a friend, who is also a big DT fan, about this last week, how if I had to bust Dream Theater down to one mp3 CD (700 MB, nearly 6 1/2 hours worth of music) for the car, ADTOE would get 4-5 songs, but if I had to do two, it'd still probably only get 5 songs (This Is the Life, Bridges in the Sky, Far from Heaven, Breaking All Illusions and Beneath the Surface).
I like both SC and BC&SL, but I think they are probably the two least best DT records (I used to put 8V lower than BC&SL, but not anymore). SC is a fun record on the right day, but lacks anything really awesome, and BC&SL probably has the least identity of any DT record to date.