listening to 'calling all stations', i have the intuition that tony and mike tried to reeinvent genesis and give it a "grunge" feel. and that's why the started from scratch, with new musicians for the album recording and the tour.
What you say is completely plausible, I think Mike's guitar sound is partially responsible for that, I remember that was the first thing the stuck out for me, in terms of sound. I sort of like the album but I'm under the impression Tony wasn't exactly in his best of forms on it. I like as usual his sound, chords progression, the melodies he builds upon them and there are some good moments but he is not as strong as on other albums. We don't get to blame Ray either, the song were mostly written when he came in, vocal lines included.