All of this trying to determine the awesomeness of the album based on Mike's feelings is moot, because what he finds awesome, someone else may not. Someone could have loved every DT album so far, be a total fanboy (me!

), but could end up hating this one. On the flipside, someone who loved earlier DT but has pretty much written them off could wind up loving this album (similar to the reaction that came with Metallica's Death Magnetic (loudness issues aside).
As for me, I'm always stoked when there's news of a new album, and I can't wait for this one. My reaction to every DT album since I've been into them has been just about the same:
1st listen: Holy crap that was amazing!
2nd -5th listen: Damn that's a good album.
6th - 10th listen: I wish they'd done ~
this~ different.
11th - 20th listen: Wow I never noticed that before, that's awesome!
21+ listens: This album is clearly one of Dream Theater's 9 best studio albums!
"I sure wish I had been around to see Pink Floyd live... but then again, I'd be really old now, so f**k it."