A quick update from the play testing of this one. IMHO it's Rob's best "Sanctuary" so far, in terms of both the song writing and surround mix and by quite a considerable margin. However, it took me several plays through to "get" the music and really appreciate this, so it's possibly less accessible than his previous Sanctuary releases, to the point where I think it's a great move to split it into two albums with a gap. A double album could have been too much to digest in one sitting.
I think the reason for this may be because, with this album, he's evolved his sound and solo song writing to the point where it really feels much more like Rob Reed than a Mike Oldfield homage. Don't worry; it's an evolution, not a huge change in direction and if you liked the previous albums you'll like this one for sure.
On the mixing and production side he's incorporated a lot of what worked really well with "Cursus 123 340" so the surround mix is both dynamic and powerful. The sound quality is stunning, even for Rob. The 48k DTS on the DVD is (honestly) so good that I find it hard to believe that it's not lossless!