I have to begin this album with a criticism: A great deal of the choruses on this CD sound very similar to one another. If that sort of thing annoys you, look away.
However, the majority of each song is well constructed, with machine-gun drum work, guitars that aren't too dissimilar to a hybrid of John Petrucci's technical nous and Gothenburg melodic death metal riffing, and well-written keyboard parts. The vocals are another strong point.
Whilst not perfect, this album is strong. I bought it purely on the strength of hype, and despite being quite so cynical as I am, the album lived up to its reputation.
Take this from it, then: sometimes things are hyped because they're actually GOOD, instead of it just being a big 'ol marketing ploy. I'm definitely glad I bought this.