So... I've got Six Degrees!
By now I had the time to listen to each song more or less 4-5 times so I still have a lot do discover but here are my general thoughts.
TGP is an awesome opener with a lot of cool stuff I still have to digest. Overall, I know the riffs are monstruous, there is one around 5 minutes I think which is re-used in TDS and the ending is really good.
BF has a kind of asiatic-sounding vibe in the beginning which greatly surprised me, in a good way! It is really catchy and the instrumental section sounds awesome, with a beautiful piano solo somewhere in. It doesn't feel long at all, I really enjoy it.
Misunderstood... is the weirdest. At first it feels very calm and soothing, then somehow it starts becoming more and more powerful in such a natural way, the vocal part which ends with "from a god to a God save me" gives me chills, or perhaps I should say, gave me literal chills yesterday when I listened to it walking in the cold of the street and started focusing on the lyrics which just resonated deep with me for a couple of minutes - a really unique experience. I still don't know what to think of that ending though.
TGD is the one I remember the less from, it still has to grow on me. But I remember that it felt really good upon the first listening, lasting for more than 13 minutes but still feeling very cohesive and with a unique sound to it. I think the spoken part works very well to emphasize the subject of the song.
Disappear still feels a bit "hollow" to me, it is a good song but it does not make me that sad despite having a haunting feeling. I think it will be a grower.
And then there is that massive 42-minute epic... I don't have the words to describe it. Right away from the Overture I knew I would love it. Each part is great and there are a lot of highlight moments, it never sounds boring nor far-fetched. It goes through happy moments as well as dramatic ones and feels like a huge symphony. All the instruments shine here with really great keyboard and guitar solos. It has a bit of everything DT is and it is constantly surprising until the end.
Overall, what strikes me the most is how experimental this one sounds compared to the others, I don't really know how to explain it. All the songs are completely unique and still they all flow together really well. Also, I think this is the record of all those that I have where Rudess has the most key role in it, he's really in the front spot most of the time, and I love that. He brought such a beautiful symphonic vibe on the SDOIT song.
Finally, I have a good feeling this may start being my favorite, even though my only worry is that I want to listen to it on repeat so much right now that I may eventually get tired of it - but I hope it won't be the case. Really, this albums sounds good from beginning to end and that's impressive. Only a few albums so far left me with a big smile on my face trying to remember everything, how great it was, astonished, wanting to listen to nothing else after it ended, right upon the first listening. This is one of them. It rocks!