Which one?
Sleeping Giant
Mine is Transcending Time but I have to admit that Sleeping Giant is well composed.
You liking this album more than DoT?
TBH, I kinda hated Distance over Time: I have completely rejected it since the first listening (at first I thought I had been handed over a demo as the production was muddy, some editing choices were strange). On the contrary, I liked DT15 instantly. I'm not loving it, it's not THE prog album of the decade and couldn't stand the comparison with the golden age (from WDADU to ToT). But it's easily the best album of the band since...let's say ToT (not to mention the Astonishing which for me is one of the greatest album of DT but is more a side project from JP and JR than a band effort). The production is one of the best if not the best. What a pleasure to hear what John Myung has to say without trying hard to discover where the bass is hidden. What a relief to see that Mangini can astonish us and can sound great (well you can hear that in the singles).
Yes it's a "classic DT album" and is like everything the band has done since Systematic Chaos. Yes, it's the same formula, the same sound but I don't know, the songs are better composed and less messy than the other albums. It seems they have finally found their sound.
As for the epic, for me it's a better version of Illumination Theory but has the same defaults (5 parts fitted into one without abrupt transitions, 5 parts that could have been developped and turned into 5 separate songs).
I'm publishing my review next week in French btw after having listened to the album since mi August (thanks noxon btw) a countless number of times and after having listened to the entire discography to see where the album fits well.