Well, let's break it down.
You LOVE songs such as The Great Debate, Octavarium, The Glass Prison, Wither, (insert below average song here).
Yup. Amazing songs, all of 'em. (Well, I guess I wouldn't put Wither into the "amazing" category, but it's still good)
You think Six Degrees was a masterpiece
Not sure if you are talking about the song or the album, but either way, yes, it is a masterpiece.
...and enjoy the "new" voice of James Labrie.
Not really sure what this means. But I do still enjoy his voice. He lacks the power he had before his accident, and that is just a fact. But he has gained a level of control and maturity in his singing through the years that makes up for it, IMO. He may not be the live powerhouse he was, but when he is in the studio and has control over ever aspect of his singing, he pulls off some very nuanced performances. And he has shown incredible diversity over the years in terms of being able to sing a lot of different styles. So, yeah, James is great.
Systematic Chaos was the shit.
Very good album, yes. By DT standards, definitely in the lower half. But standing alone as an album, there is some terrific stuff on there. The biggest problem for me is inconsistency. I love a little over half the songs, and am happy not even listening to the others.
Mike Portnoy growling all over the place is what dreams are made of.
Mike Portnoy has never growled on a DT album. But with the exception of the one very short bit I mentioned above, his vocals have been a great when used, and are an awesome counterpoint to James.
You don't "get" old DT (I believe you call it sissy music)
There are
VERY few people that would agree with this. "Old DT" is terrific (with the possible exception of WDADU, but opinions are very divided on that subject). You are flat out wrong on that one. You may run into a few here, but they are in the extreme minority.
...and think they are better to have left that genre, because lets be honest, DT now plays a new genre of music, amirite?
Um...no. They play the same genre they always have. They have incorporated a lot more styles into their music, but that doesn't mean they have somehow left the progressive metal genre. One of the things that first appealed to me back in the I&W days when I first got into them was how they could incorporate different genres and styles into their music. They have continued that trend and continued to incorporate new things over the years, which is great.
You tried to get into Awake but only enjoyed The Mirror and Lie, because your heavy metal butt just needed uninspiring hard rock versus beautiful compositions.
Again:
The vast majority of fans here love Awake, myself included. But, yeah, I enjoy The Mirror and Awake quite a bit. Two very good songs on a very good album.