First thoughts are mixed. Most songs have moments of musical bliss and it's some of their best stuff, ever.
When I first saw the title A Nightmare To Remember, I figured Dream Theater had gone Alice Cooper on us. Well, partially. Much of the song sounds recycled and a horror show in boredom. One the plus side, DT is copying themselves. On the other hand, you've heard it before and it leaves you with an empty feeling. But the song has its merits, musically.
But A Rite Of Passage bores me to tears. It's marginally better than Constant Motion and that song is on par with You Not Me (translation: horrible).
Petrucci wrote all of Wither. You can tell. Essentially a guitar-only song, it belongs on a solo album. I skipped it halfway through, went back to give it another chance, got a full listen, ultimately decided it's a song the album could've left behind. It adds nothing.
The Shattered Fortress is barely listenable. Drives me to drink. What an anti-climax to an otherwise pretty good previous output. I understand the point of the song and all other intellectual justifications you can come up with but, seriously, I'll pay money to the person who can enjoy listening to it more than a few times.
Things get a little better with The Best Of Times, but the lyrics weigh the song down and, musically, on another album it would be a great song but in the context of some other moments of musical splendor on this album, it's reduced to being bland.
Whether the lyrics are serious or a joke, they simply do not if the music of The Count Of Tuscany. I can't even find words to describe this abomination. What a waste of such amazing music. This song could've placed itself as a Top 5 DT song. Imagine this music with lyrics from the days of I&W and Awake? Knock-out. Every Dream Theater fan would've entered into shock. Instead, we have.....this? What a waste.
Basically, most, if not all, lyrics on this album is some of the worst ever written by Petrucci and Portnoy. A huge disappointment and enough of such to disqualify this album from placing itself in the top 5 of DT albums, probably.
Musically, it's a huge step in the right direction since SC. Most of it sounds fresh and creative. There are a few sections I wish I'd never heard but some of it is simply sublime.