Damn, 40 pages! But here I am.
I avoided this thread and as much "spoiler" material as possible. Didn't listen to the singles, didn't read up on how they did this one differently, or the same, or whatever, until I'd listened to the album in its entirety. But life got in the way and I wasn't able to get to Best Buy until a week ago Saturday, then I learned that they stopped carrying CDs last year! So I had to order it. I have a physical copy of every Dream Theater album, and because I'm anal that way, I'm gonna keep that going as long as I have the option.
It came last Wednesday, and so did I (bad joke). Since then, I've listened to it probably 10 times. I like this album more than any Dream Theater since Scenes from a Memory. A lot of people were saying that at first, but it's been a couple dozen pages since then.
I like how the songs are more concise. I like the mix. The production is compressed, but not too horribly. It's passable. The most important thing is that I can hear everything. I've listened to it on CD in the car, lossless rip on the PC via earphones, and finally 320k mp3 on both the iPod and over the PC speakers. I really like this album. The music is great, the grooves are groovy.
For me, the weakest link continues to be JLB. I get it; this is how he sings now. Always the same tone, zero emotion, and silly breathy stuff when he's trying (and failing) to project emotion. Sorry, but that's what I hear. Nothing at all like back in the early days. So this album is in many ways a return to form, but not for everyone and everything. I know some people think he's fine here, some even say he's great. I'm glad some people like it. To me, the melodies and choruses are very hit or miss. Not so bad that it spoils the album for me, but as much as I love the music, I can already tell that JLB's boring sameness on every fucking song is what will eventually make me tire of this album.
But until that happens, I'm still digging it.