For me getting rid of Portnoy got rid of some nasty, angsty lyrics. (Please note discussing specifics of some lyrics cannot be done publicly on the forum.) I am more of a fan of Petrucci when it comes to DT lyrics. Rudess...needs to learn that less is more. Sherinian and Moore don't get enough credit for their understanding of that. Especially Sherinian...Falling into Infinity gets so much IMO unjustified hate.
YES. This right here. I have NO idea why Falling Into Infinity gets all the hate.
I think if Portnoy were still in the band now, DT would be a death metal band! LOL Just seemed to be the direction he was taking the band.
The crazy thing about Jordan (I agree with you) is that he HAS shown in DT that he can slow it down and play some beautiful stuff without breaking the 10000 notes per second barrier. Disappear and Far From Heaven are two that come to the top of my head right now. He can do it, he just...doesn't. I will say that the string section he wrote for Illumination Theory (from the latest album) is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in a DT song.
I'm a keyboard player myself, and I love shredding from time to time, but I think it should be balanced with more restrained stuff. Kevin Moore was excellent in this regard.