ADTOE is in my Top 5. I think it's amazing.
To this day, I still cannot understand how this album is not more appreciated. It's in my top 5 as well. I will never forget listening to it for the first time. It was one of the few times I loved an album on its first listen.
For me to like this album so much AND for it to have 3 ballads? That speaks volumes. Granted, Beneath The Surface is one of my fav DT ballads. Just don't care for FFH or TITL much, despite still being good songs.
If FFH was replaced by one more song on par with the rest of the non-ballads on the album, we are potentially looking at a top 3 DT album for me. Though, ToT would probably still have to edge out that 3 spot.
BAL, Outcry, BITS, OTBoA and LNF are simply phenomenal songs. And yes, I even love BMUBMD! BAL is a top 5 DT song ever for me, and the best of the Mangini era. Now that we've gotten a couple more albums in this recent era, I feel like it makes ADToE look even better.