I agree with you totally. Any guest appearances that are on an ND record should be there because they actually add something important to the mix, and make the song better. I can guarantee that any and all of the guests on the new cd are there because they NEED to be there. You'll understand when you hear it. None of it is frivolous and for the sake of having a "name" to add. If they're a "friend" of the band whom we want to work with (such as someone like Dan, or Rachel, etc.), then that's an added bonus for us.
And I can understand what Lamers is saying, since Dan and Paul have very similar styles and so forth. And I can tell you, my personal opinion (and seemingly the opinion of almost everyone whose actually heard the new disc so far) is that Paul's vocals on this new cd are some of the very best he's ever done, both in the clean stuff and the guttural vox. So his vocals on their own are pretty awesome.
.......but, come to think of it, wouldn't it just be doublly awesome if you had both Paul and someone like Dan together?? I'm not saying it happened, but yknow, just think about it.....
;-)