Hey Martin - totally agree on the not-rushing thing. Take as long as you need! I'd rather see a kickass album come out two years from now rather than a not-so-great one so quickly after the last.
I agree with Sean. I like guitar leads. I like em a lot. I like how Timeless Departure was literally saturated with sound - you could listen over and over and find new stuff every time. There was a lot of depth to the CD. I'd love to hear that again. You don't even necessarily have to do it with guitar - maybe more keyboard stuff, maybe mixing up using clean singing and growling at the same time, maybe doing choir-type vocals, or maybe even bringing in classical musicians. You could go really wild, and I'd say why the hell not, as long as you enjoy what you're doing.
I did like the epic feel of Timeless Departure more, I must confess. I think there's a sucker in me for uplifting sort of music - or at least 'epic' stuff. I don't think things on a grand scale necessarily have to be happy - Disillusion's Back To Times Of Splendor and Green Carnation's Light of Day, Day of Darkness are anything but happy, but they also have that 'feel' to them.
I think you could really do some cool things with your next album. You could have another go at guitar solos - maybe even do keyboard ones. You could throw in some acoustic guitar work/clean stuff, even just as an intro to songs.
Jonas seems to have almost permanently disappeared, but I'd say to him if he's up for it to throw down some truly funktastic bass - kinda the stuff DiGorgio did for Quo Vadis' Defiant Imagination. Of course, I can recognize that DiGorgio is an insane player, but I'd say a little more intricacy couldn't be too tough.
What I think would also be nifty is some better-polished lyrics. There are some grammatical and spelling errors hither and thither that could be eliminated pretty easily if you guys could get into contact with someone who really has a mastery of English. Hell, write a song or two in Swedish. Start with lyrics instead of music.
(I gotta side with Sean again, too - not a huge fan of lots of electronic influences, but just me!)
You guys could even do something as far out as a concept album. Who knows?