I'm really growing to love
Falling Into Infinity. I would say that it's now in my top 3. Definitely behind IAW, my number one. I'm not sure if it would be ahead or behind ADTOE. But it's a really fantastic album.
It's definitely a different thing than DT's other albums. It sounds like no other, more so than a lot of the band's other albums. FII is way groovier and jazzier than anything DT wrote before or since, and I really enjoy that. Also, while I love Kevin and Jordan and wouldn't trade any of their work on any of the albums they made with DT, Derek's playing on this album has a lot of personality and really makes it stand out for me.
I've read through this thread, which is several years old, and one major topic of discussion is about the role of the demo tracks in their association with the album. I really just don't associate them with the album at all. Personally, as a person who can't help but get bothered about audio quality, I can't really listen to the demos because they don't sound good to me. So I've heard the demos maybe twice. The only cut track that I've heard well enough to even make a judgement about is Raise the Knife, because that song is on
Score. I really like it, and I think it would have been great on FII, but since it wasn't on the album, I just view it as a standalone entity of sorts, like A Change of Seasons. And no, I don't wish it was on the album, because I don't really think there's anything on the album that could have been cut to allow RTK to be on the album while preserving the flow that I wouldn't have missed.
The best songs on the album are doubtlessly Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears. These two kind-of-jazzy epics are both in my top 15 for DT, so you get the idea of how much I love them. Both of them are great compositions and have emotional weight. The same can be said about Hollow Years, which I think is one of the most underrated DT songs. It's truly a touching piece. These are just three of the album's 11 songs, but this is already 30 pretty much flawless minutes of music. On top of this, New Millennium is a great opener, and Peruvian Skies and Hell's Kitchen have proven to be growers for me. All three are also great tracks. Take Away My Pain is a weird one that I've grown to love for its weirdness. Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe bring a different attitude to the record, but both are great songs despite some maybe slightly juvenile lyrical moments (though I think JLMB's lyrics are kinda kickass in their own way, especially for having the bravery to name-drop Nirvana in a negative context). Anna Lee is a decent ballad, but I think it's the album's weak link. It's definitely my least favorite track.
You Not Me is a good song. It's not a great song, but it's a good song. I actually really like the riffs and overall guitarwork in this song even though it's nothing like what we've come to expect from John Petrucci, and the vocal melodies are actually good and catchy. I really like this song! Then again, I'm one of those sinners who enjoys pop music, so I'm probably just wrong.