Same, though I didnt really get to hear the original Crimson properly, only amid frequent interruptions at the office.
The thing about CII that jumped out at me was how smooth everything was. I didnt get the feeling that I was listening to brickwalled guitars, and I almost never get that feeling when listening to death metal of any stripe.
Also dug the melodic aspect of it, I guess I just haven't heard much melodic death metal, which would account for how fresh this tasted.
The first comparison that I thought of was that Garden of Shadows you recommended a while back, so I figured you'd probably enjoy it as well.
----
I've been trying to expand my metal in recent weeks, it feels like I need more variety, having not listened to it much this past year or two.
Just recently I finally tracked down Crotchduster's Big Fat Box of Shit, which I have been wanting to hear for some time. Definitely heavy on the novelty aspects, but not at the expense of the music.
Its incredibly schizophrenic, genre-jumping stuff that I think would delight Mike Patton fans, and anyone with enough of a background in music to recognize all the constant parodies via song structure, lyrical content/context, and other things I've forgotten.
I've ordered Revolting's Dreadful Pleasures based off of some reviews, supposedly its pretty old school DM. Sound clips on Teufel's Tomb didn't offend, so I splurged. High hopes for that one.