I just love the proggy side of DT more than the metal side...
They are always at their best when they balance those two elements. Just metal turns boring as it did with most of Black Clouds & Silver Linings and other songs of theirs as well. Just prog turns boring like all music from most other prog bands.
Dream Theater has never really had a problem with too little metal, but has certainly had problems with too much of it.
I disagree. BCASL's problems had little to do with the fact it was metal imo. A lot of its problem was bloat. The album of epics. Sounds like a prog problem to me.
Personally, my least favourite longer DT songs are the ones that are too focused on being proggy, but without enough metal to balance it out, such as LTL, ACOS, BAI etc (I know they all have heavier stuff in them, but I find them too proggy and boring).
I'm not even much of a metal fan, I'm just more into DT's simpler side where they're focusing on melody, more concise structures (relatively speaking), and ballady stuff too. I feel that prog goes against that by its very nature. Their metal side doesn't.