Just because Tommy's vocals on the last few albums have been monotone doesn't mean that they always have been, or that harsh vocals always have to be. Just listen to the self-titled.
Tommy's vocals are not very good on the self titled debut.
The riffs however, are crushing. And more interesting than most of the stuff on the Parallax albums.
On the topic of dynamics though, The Great Misdirect is my favorite BTBAM album for a reason. That beautiful clean opening track
Mirrors, followed by the grandiose progressive death metal anthem
Obfuscation, with that incredible bass driven solo section that grows and grows with each meter. Right into
Disease, Injury, Madness, with its crushing, fast paced riffs that are very reminiscent of their earlier work, and those mellowed out bass parts, and that big rock and roll extended guitar solo, falling back into the brutal death metal onslaught that takes us to end of the track and into
Fossil Genera, which is essentially a marathon of riff after riff after riff before coming up to a huge epic closing segment that could end any adventure movie so perfectly.
Desert of Song bringing it back down with a fairly relaxed, completely clean vocal ballad-y type jam, and the 18 minute Dream Theater tribute known as
Swim To The Moon.
The entire album dips and climbs and soars with its dynamic diversity, even within each song. Which is also why i think the album works better than
Colors or the Parallax albums. Each song is a strong piece that stands alone, but works well with the other songs to form a great album, as opposed to a bunch of different songs that were intended to just be part of a much larger body of work. Sometimes, that just isnt as effective.
If they were to make another album in the style of TGM, with those dynamics, it would be a real winner.