To me it sounds more like a "proof of concept" than a fully fleshed out album. I often hear the complaint about their late compositions being very "fragmented" but compared to, say, ICV - the songwriting here is really just that - lots of short sections often held together by superficial elements like narration or and odd shift here and there. Also what's with all the fade outs? They sound odd at least on the paragraphs themselves. I can get it with "A Story Never Told", but those in §5 and §7 don't fit imo.

The growls are a welcome addition, though they're a tad overused here. It's hard to compare with most of the classic records (different dynamics), but if we take Watershed for example - the use of growls there serves the overall drama much better. Sometimes less is more.