Train of Though without a doubt. Moving on from SDoIT when they decided to be more aggressive and take an even more metal direction for their new album, really surprised me back in the day. From the intriguing artwork (by Jerry Uelsmann) to the cool intro (from the Losing Time/Grand Finale outro) the album grabs you and it takes you for a relentless ride. The songs flow great and they release energy when they should without straying away from the dark/metal atmosphere. The instrumental sections carry the message of the song saying what needs to be said and never feel boring. The placement of the songs is great too, like Vacant and how it serves like an opener for SoC, awesome stuff. Of course it wouldn't be a proper DT album without an epic closer and for sure they wrote one of the best closing epics of their entire catalog. Especially the live version is legendary with the extended JP solo and JLB nailing the melodies.
ADToE is clearly an album that it's a product of it's time, it served as a plan for the band to prove themselves to their fans and help them transition with the least amount of losses to their new musical chapter. The production is weird, it had more songs but they don't always make for a better record and they weren't all that memorable with a few exceptions. Also the album felt partially as a remake of IaW..not that original.
In retrospect both albums have strengths and weaknesses but consider this, would you like to listen on the upcoming tour ASoC, ES and ItNoG or songs like Build me Up and Break me Down and Outcry..they're is no comparison.