Originally Posted by: TheWizardDT songs are not just vehicles for soloing

at one time it was, but since James has developed his voice better, they have been striving for much more Pink Floyd type songs while keeping the amazing technical ability

This is, of course totally subjective but I have still yet to hear one of their songs and thought "damn, that was a good song." Their stuff feels contrived to me. I'm definately impressed by what they do on a technical level but it doesn't move me. Symphony X, I think does a much better job of being badass technicians who can put together a good song -- their songs have a much more natural flow and when there's a solo, it feels like it belongs there.