This will take a while....
1) Musically speaking, I want this album to be more diverse - Behold how Projector slipped between styles, or TMI...
2) Lyrically, a more centralised theme... again, harking back to Projector/TMI.
3) Niklas back on lyrics. Not neccesarily doing massloads, but going over them in a more joint role with Mikael would be very cool.
4) Extremity. I'd love to see DT swing between the extremes... not neccesarily in one song (tho maybe one like that would be cool), but wild songs, calm songs, heavy songs, depressors etc.etc.
5) A darker vein of inspiration would be cool... DD was heavy, but lacked the savagery that accompanied OCaEN, MtI, much of the TMI... or the bitter defiance of TT, IC, lethe etc.etc.
6) Acoustics. I want to see acoustics again, and I think they could do some very nice stuff mixing acoustics with electronics... possibly.
7) Clean vocals... used Skydancer style, with perhaps one or two songs reliant on them. Female vocals would be nice, but not neccesary.
8) I'd like to see DT use some more galleryesque guitar leads, as well as the post-TMI ones (not to mention Format C and Hours passed... this might necceistate DT becoming more guitar led again, but this is a good thing imo.
9) More imaginative use of the bass - maybe a bass intro, or melody reliant on it...
10) The keyboards have been handled well so far, but in some songs I'd like to hear it done more traditionally piano perhaps... I dunno. Stick as they are, with maybe a bit more of a back seat...
11) Anders should go craaazy. Rat a tat tat BLAST!
ahem.