I really like the new DT song, it pretty much meets expectations in terms of their normal riffing style but with a little bit more of a heavy edge and more of a driving drum style compared to Mangini's more technical approach. When you compare this to The Alien, the first single on the previous album, it feels like a logical continuation for them rather than them throwing out the last decade of musical development. It also goes to show though that by the time Portnoy left the first time, DT had settled into a bit of a musical routine that they rarely deviated from in the Mangini years. Bringing Portnoy back into the fold isn't really something that would lead to a major stylistic departure for them with that in mind.
What I hope bringing back Portnoy does do for the band is going back to more overarching concepts within their albums and little things to tie the songs together. Even a non-conceptual album like Black Clouds & Silver Linings feels like it has a musical and lyrical identity that ties the songs together. ADTOE (and obviously The Astonishing) did OK in this area, but generally it felt like there was less focus on the bigger picture of the album without Portnoy in the band. Seeing that they're obviously going for at least some sort of loose concept has me really excited for the album. Also, I know song lengths doesn't tell us anything, but DT is clearly more in their element when working with more "epic" length songs and I'm glad to see them leaning into that as well.
What I hope bringing back Portnoy does do for the band is going back to more overarching concepts within their albums and little things to tie the songs together. Even a non-conceptual album like Black Clouds & Silver Linings feels like it has a musical and lyrical identity that ties the songs together. ADTOE (and obviously The Astonishing) did OK in this area, but generally it felt like there was less focus on the bigger picture of the album without Portnoy in the band. Seeing that they're obviously going for at least some sort of loose concept has me really excited for the album. Also, I know song lengths doesn't tell us anything, but DT is clearly more in their element when working with more "epic" length songs and I'm glad to see them leaning into that as well.