In retrospect, it's pretty okay-to-good. I just listened to the HD Tracks versions of SC, BC&SL, ADTOE, and DT12 a couple of weeks ago in my car during my daily commutes, and when I got to DT12, I found myself humming to the melodies, remembering some words and what not, but outside of that, I didn't feel very much of a connection to most of the material. Like, it's good, but it just hasn't settled in the way the other 3 aforementioned albums have. I remember liking it a lot when it came out, but on recent listen, it's more OK than Good or Great.
Other than AFTR, I really only enjoy the songs after Enigma Machine, but maybe that's because the band were really channeling Rush-vibes in many of those songs (as well as The Looking Glass). There's a lot of Rush-ness across the album, and I think it helps AND hurts the album, but as a Rush fan, I can't be TOO mad at them for asking "What Would Rush Do"?
I also still have mixed feelings about "Illumination Theory" - there are parts of it that are awesome, gorgeous and beautiful, but parts of it are just "meh" or cringey to my ears all these years later. I don't really like the part after the the orchestral break, which sounds so derivative of Rush's "The Necromancer" (musically) and "Didacts And Narpets" (lyrically). Like, I get it Petrucci, you love Rush and Caress Of Steel...
Anyways - TL:DR, it's mid-tier DT, and I find the 3 albums prior to it better by comparison, though given what came after it, I'd rather like to DT12 over TA any day.
-Marc.
Going back and reading my response to this thread from last June, I still feel kind of the same. I just listened to the album a couple weeks ago in my car, again on a run of the HD Tracks versions of SC, BC&SL, ADTOE, and DT12, and I think I like it a bit more than I remember, but as I said above, I really only like the second half of the album, except some of IT. After EM, the album really picks up for me, with a killer three-song-run of TBP/BTV/STR.
If the album had been the following track list, it would've made for a killer single LP (with roughly 27 minute sides, which is stretching the limits of a side of vinyl):
Side A
The Enemy Inside
The Bigger Picture
Behind The Veil
Surrender To Reason
Side B
Along For The Ride
Illumination Theory
Maybe in a few more years, I'll finally come around to enjoying the whole album, but compared to ADTOE and d/t (and not counting TA), it's easily my least favorite of the MM-era albums. I just enjoy ADTOE and d/t more, and I get that the band were trying new things with DT12, but some of it just doesn't stick the landing for me still.
-Marc.