I dig most of it, but the 'people just don't have the time for music anymore' makes me cringe a bit. But if I couldn't get past such things, I wouldn't be listening to Dream Theater at all. So, nothing new there.
Overall impression:
- Uplifting and energetic track.
- Well-written.
- Cool solo and instrumental part.
- The production is a bit more open than DT12.
- I'm disappointed with the snare, again, although it's not as bad as the DT12 snare. I was secretly hoping for a badass organic snare a la MP era, but whatever, f it.
- Still not feeling Mike Mangini's style at all. He doesn't ruin the music in any way for me, but it's more that MP made the often intricate technical rhythms of the band groovy and listenable nonetheless.
Conclusion:
An above average track for DT coming off the last few records. I'll still be following and I'm anticipating this album quite a bit.