You know, there's one thing that's bothering on this whole "let's bash The Eternal and SY" thing. I used to be into Dream Theater a lot (don't laugh now :P) and I thought they totally rocked (and they did!). The thing is, there came a moment when an album came out that simply didn't seem right, you know? It wasn't THEM, it was some crap they recorded on short notice just to make the easy buck while they were riding the popularity wave. As a popular guy that I am, I made it noticed on the DT board. And I got promptly banned from the board for stating that the album was crap and that they were milking the fans with "deluxe", "gold" and "platinum" packages for the concerts (they included a ticket to the front rows and some other "goodies", like taking a photo with the band and meeting the band, you know, stuff that rocks when happens on its own, not when you have to PAY for it).
Bottom line here, The Eternal is a damn good SY record, it has a bit for all tastes, rough like the earlier stuff and soft like Rather Ripped, mostly. They're giving us their best by putting out an album recorded 2 years after the last one (there was time enough to settle down and compose new stuff without any kind of rush), and an album that has some of the most beautiful packaging I've seen, something that I can't stress enough, the cover is a fucking work of art, not some crap like this:
So guys, think twice when you bash The Eternal (I remember that as soon as the TITLE of the album came out, some people started bashing right away), they really don't deserve that hate.