My review of The Absolute Universe was sent out earlier today and will be published any time now.
So now I can finally say, I love this album. As far as where I'd rank it, it doesn't touch The Whirlwind, which is my top (and very high on my "all time" list from any band). I definitely rank it above Kaleidoscope, which is my least favorite TA album. And I'm not sure where I rank it relative to the first two albums. In many respects, I think it is better and more cohesive. In others, I think it is really hard for anything to reach that magic that the first two albums had. But it is right there with them, IMO. (but at the same time, very different from those two albums)
EDIT: Another tidbit that did not make the review: Pete is the absolute MVP of this album. Everything about his playing, his tone, and pretty much everything else, is SO good. And both version of Solitude, on which he takes lead vocals for the first half of the song, are contenders for my top song on their respective albums.