Reading about the band's breakup makes me want to go watch This Is Spinal Tap.
I like Promised Land. You can tell it was the band trying to adapt to a changing musical landscape--it's darker in tone, more acoustic guitar than usual, less melodic guitar lines--but I think it turned out as well as could be expected. The band still has a knack for songwriting and sometimes Geoff Tate still sings like what he's singing about actually matters to him. It's no Operation: Mindcrime, but I would defend it as a good album (and certainly the last one the band made). I'm a little biased because it was how I was introduced to the band, though. It was one of the first CDs I got!
Their original lead guitarist is apparently a commercial pilot now. How weird is that? At least he knew to jump ship before things went all to crap (or possibly they went to crap because he left).
EDIT: ye gods that is an awful album cover.