JMX, in the early days, always seemed to really give it his all when it came to the bass. That peaked in Falling Into Infinity. The man is absolutely ALL OVER THE PLACE on that album. It contains his best bass work, IMO. However, more recently it seems that he's not giving it his all anymore. His lines are usually nothing more than doubling JP/JR
This is the evidence that he's been forced to the back seat. Why would he change from being such an 'outspoken' instrumentalist to being a doubler? I can't imagine him just saying (lol): "I don't feel much like writing cool lines anymore." There has to be something more