just got around to listening to this last night, on my second round.
Yep, dense is how I would describe it. I'm still on the fence as to whether I like it or not tbh. I've loved these guys since I heard the first This City Sunrise demos back in '03; they're definitely 'progressive' in the purest sense of the word, but I've yet to decide whether the latest progression that this album represents is something that I dig. There are echoes of 'So Be It' in a couple of tracks...
I'm hoping that my perception of the album will change once I see the songs played live. A lot of So Be It was like that for me, songs like DDPXL and Building Houses really clicked once I saw them played live. The other tracks I liked because they were just awesome songs, or they were live classics (albeit reworked in some cases).
Solid album, for sure. Can't wait to see it live and see how/if it grows on me.