BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS

There is nothing really bad about this album. Though through a lot of it, it seems to not be as much an example of Progressive Metal as their other albums (except Systematic Chaos). There are very good melodies, if you're talking about the album as its own thing. Isolated from the rest of their work, it holds up as very good, big budget, Heavy Metal. However, when you compare them, a big group of their previous albums (everything from I&W to Octavarium), it appears to keep the same general tone throughout. Their previous albums were more dynamic with the mood, especially Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Maybe DT needs to do a low-tech album next, to refresh their musicality, but I think a quick fix would be to put more major keys into the music, that's what I think I miss the most, and make it sound less like NU-Metal (e.i. the openings with guitar only, maybe keyboard, playing a boring, cliche, minor riff) and more like Progressive Metal.