man, really love that post! the only thing i have to add is :
no, the band did not pour through thousands of cd's, but through thousands 10,000 of mp3s on their iphone...
thats exactly why modern metal sounds that way. kids never listen
to one band for like 3 months (like i did back in the days) and
basically try to dive into and understand what this band has to say (musically and lyrically).
nowadays you have like 50 bands at the same time that you are "into", you only take the strong tracks out of the album context ("the easily accessible ones") and that forms your taste of music...
these bands take musical pieces (that they dont really understand) and
mash it up into something "new" - without any meaning, just sound after sound, part after part.
this music has zero emotion (for me). but this is all only my humble opinion,
if you like this band, please dont hate me ;-)
if this band really wants to progress, they should get rid of the screamer.