So, anyway, now that I've heard the album about 10 or 12 times, here are my thoughts on each track:
01. False Awakening Suite - I like that they opened the album with a track like this. It's hard-hitting, in your face, and as the title suggests, it really is a "False Awakening" because based on this opening, you'd never expect some of the softer, more beautiful parts of the album that come later on.
02. The Enemy Inside - I did not listen to this track when they released it as a single because I wanted to hear it for the first time in the context of the entire album. Excellent song. One of the best on the album and this might be my favorite Roadrunner-era single.
03. The Looking Glass - Dream Theater channels Moving Pictures-era Rush. Great song, great vibe. Loved the melodies in this one.
04. Enigma Machine - I wasn't sure about this track at first. The more I listen to it, though, the more I appreciate its subtle complexity. The main riff actually makes me chuckle with appreciation.
05. The Bigger Picture - Definitely has the DT vibe and is overall a good track. The chorus is pretty memorable (albeit it has terrible lyrics). This is definitely one of the top 3 on the record.
06. Behind the Veil - I'm not crazy about the intro, but this is a solid track. Verses have a bit of an Awake-era DT vibe to them which is cool. Good song overall.
07. Surrender to Reason - This probably could have been released as another single. In fact, I think I like this one more than The Enemy Inside as a single. The different bass guitar mix really stands out on this track. Best Petrucci melody in a long time.
08. Along for the Ride - I'm a sucker for a ballad. 'nuff said.
09. Illumination Theory - I absolutely LOVE 90% of this one. The biggest issue I have with it is the rather long classical music section. I'm just left kinda scratching my head. What is the point? It's a beautiful melody, but it just feels like it came completely out of left field and then it kind of drags on a lot longer than I expected or really wanted. I respect the artist's right to articulate their vision the way they want to, so I guess I won't go as far as editing that section out, but I can certainly understand why some people would want to remove it. It's actually similar to the extra long intro to the title track on Octavarium, which I also dislike. I'll probably mostly FF>> through it when I listen to the album.
Overall, this album is a MASSIVE improvement over ADTOE in the area of production values. I'm not crazy about the loudness of it, but it's not offensively loud and I don't hear any excessive clipping. I am absolutely overjoyed at being able to actually hear Myung's bass guitar in this mix, something I don't ever recall hearing so clearly on any previous albums. LaBrie mostly plays it kind of safe, and I can't say I blame him, especially where they're going to be doing a ton of live dates in the "An Evening With Dream Theater" format. With that said, he does push the envelope in a few places and given the fact that he's my age (50-ish) that's pretty impressive. Rudess showed some restraint, got away from that silly rag-time thing he's been tossing in to every album since, like, forever, and chose some nice patches in a few places that we haven't heard from him before, at least not as prominently. Petrucci's mastery of the guitar cannot be questioned. A true virtuoso player in every sense of the word. The jury is still out on Petrucci the producer, though. And obviously, a band that has self-produced for this amount of time, with the amount of success they've had doing things this way, I don't think they'll change that - or the woodshed writing style they have employed since SFAM (a technique I hate, btw).....
In any case, on a 1 to 10 scale I'd give this album a solid 8.5 - better than ADTOE, BC&SL, 8VM, SC, FII,