With an album like this, I usually expect at least a mix of two things:
1. Straight forward, poppy-metal songs.
2. Longer, more symphony or proggy metal songs.
The Unforgiving has the first category down, but in the second arena it just not deliver. It does have some kind of nifty concept, I haven't really gotten too deeply in that but, from what I have heard just listening to the record and watching the videos, the story hasn't been executed particularly well. Like Trail of Dead's new record, there's something going on here but they took the easy way out and, instead of telling a story through an album, they made an album themed around a story presumably to come.
Now, the extras are all nice. They give you a lot of bang for your buck and the production (both sonically and materially) is great. It's just a shame all that seems to be compensating to make (what feels to me like a very shallow album) appear deeper.