stuff
Nick, the Dominator was certainly trying to ride on DT's success. Looking at some older interviews, the guy said again and again before coming out with his solo stuff that he wasn't even into the prog metal stuff Dream Theater wanted to create back then and was always the first to agree when people suggested they go a more commercial route. Then suddenly appear three Dominici records, 2 of which are, for better or worse, about as predictable as prog metal gets.
I'm not knocking people who like that kinda stuff (I have soft spot for some of those cookie cutter prog metal bands), but I just tend to prefer prog metal bands who make the genre their own more than the ones that let the genre make them. Bands who define prog metal on their own terms, like DT did back in the day, Opeth did with Blackwater Park, BtBaM are doing now, etc, are just more interesting than bands that just seem to be trying too hard for their own place under the banner of the genre.
Look, I'm not hating on Charlie. There are people out there who just can't get enough of what he does and its fine that he fills that niche. But, let's face it, he's not Dream Theater's Jon Arch. He was never a good fit to begin with, so when he comes out with new music that continues in that awkward vein of just not sounding completely "right" for him you can't really paint him as the guy who was there in the beginning and has a license to even compete with DT, especially given his admitted dislike for prog metal.