bunkaroo

I agree the drums were not present enough on ADTOE, but all you could hear was guitar and drums when Portnoy was in the band, so it was kind of nice to see them not stomping all over everything (like the bass).

I listened to this at higher volume in my car yesterday, and it sounded better than on earbuds, but the snare is still not cutting enough. Pretty stark difference from listening to Soilwork's latest all week where the snare cuts through just fine but isn't obnoxiously bright or snappy on its own.

As far as the songs, I really like the first 5 tracks. After that the quality seems to wane. I usually like the long tracks and I liked "Count of Tuscany" quite a bit, but "Illumination Theory" seems thrown together. I like the pieces, especially the orchestral part, but they don't seem to make sense together to me.

I'm sure it will eventually grow on me with more listens, but I was hoping it would grab me quicker.

RocShemp

Just got this (Late to the party, I know) and am giving the 5.1 disc a spin. So far I like what I hear. I skipped the previous album and, judging by a few comments here, I'm not missing much.