After listening to Momentum a few times, it's got some nice parts. But on the whole, it's nothing new as people said. Particularly World Without End. It's a carbon copy of Seeds Of Gold, which is a carbon copy of So Many Roads. It's basically Lifeline 2.0 but not as good (and Lifeline was that great to start with).
So wait... you like
Lifeline over
Momentum??
I think the latter has a few more highs than the former, and not as many (if any) lows. Sure, the epic is pretty long but it's still a BIT different from it's 2 recent predecessors, and it's less like "The Great Nothing" than "So Many Roads" ties to be. "Seeds Of Gold" remains different altogether because it lacks definitive movements, and with that mindset, it sounds like a more cohesive song with smoother transitions than "World Without End" and "So Many Roads" are.
And, if I can humor myself (and everyone else):
Lifeline VS Momentum - Momentum (and I'm glad Neal cut the slow piano-solo-section from the middle to make it LESS like "Lifeline"
Leviathan VS Thoughts Part 5 - Thoughts...these are the heavy rockers of their albums, and Thoughts does it slightly better than Leviathan, although props to Leviathan for being a bit different.
So Many Roads VS World Without End - tie...WWE is a bit long, but it's got some GREAT parts and hooks, but so does SMR.
The Way Home/God's Love/Children Of The Chosen/Fly High VS Smoke And Mirrors/Weathering Sky/Freak - the Momentum tracks because they're all so different from each other, but I couldn't really recall any defining characteristics of the LL tracks, except for maybe the chorus to COTC...they're so homogeneous, but S&M is quite different from WS, and Freak is so unique with it's quirky verses with strings. I will say that I do recall liking Fly High, though...but that's about it.
Winner - Momentum
And to be honest, I was never that on-board with Lifeline to begin with... it was rather lackluster after 3 great albums like
One,
? and
Sola Scriptura, and with
Testimony 2 coming after it, it just looked a bit worse by comparison. At least HALF of the album is pretty good-to-great (title track, Leviathan and SMR).
-Marc.