Black Clouds & Silver Linings Review - No Spoilers

Well, I've been listening to the new DT album for about the last two weeks now. I really don't want to ruin everyone's first listen to Black Clouds And Silver Linings, so I won't go into too much detail. Save to say that 'The Best Of Times' and 'The Count Of Tuscany' (20 minutes? Oh yes!!) are both amongst the best tracks the band have ever released. It's epic. It's contemporary with plenty of prog. There's a huge portion of metal in there too. Other plus points (for me anyway) are the lack of fantasy lyrics about vampires and "dark master" which did little for me on their last album, and they've cut back on those growling vocals. In terms of balance, it's probably their most solid album since 'Scenes From A Memory'.
The only downside is that the CD is one of those watermarked efforts, and it won't play on the PC or half the CD players in the house. The only ones that work are in the bathroom and car. So cue lots of pointless car journeys and I've not been this clean since I was a baby . . .