ILIIAITE vs ASTY
ILIIAITE is my favorite album of all time, but I really really really loved ASTY. As I listened to it though I felt that it was just a tiny bit behind ILIIAITE (nothing to be ashamed of at all), however when The Way It Breaks and No Stranger To You came on, that seriously made me question whether it was just as good. So I decided I'll be comparing the two. Now I do think ILIIAITE just flows together better as an album, has a better soundscape, theme and mood, and the way Theme opens into Aggressive Evolution is just awesome, but I'll disregard that and focus only on song vs song.
With ILIIAITE, the heavy hitters for me are defo sad cartoon, is it really you? screaming, I let it in, and two-way mirror. With ASTY, it's gotta be no stranger, way it breaks, GES, Fangs, and block of flats.
Interludes/openings: ASTY has 3, ILIIAITE has 4. Now by default this makes me inclined to give it to ASTY since we have more actual songs (both albums have 14 tracks), but when I really thought about it, I didn't really like the interludes on ASTY that much, whereas Theme, 451 Days (really calming in combination with Two-Way Mirror), Red Room, and Sad Carton Reprise (so fking good) are just so much better.
So we have ILIIAITE: 1, ASTY: 0
Is It Really You? vs The Way It Breaks
This one's hard because I always thought of the way it breaks as the is it really you of ASTY. Honestly... they're equal to me
ILIIAITE: 2, ASTY: 1
Two-Way Mirror vs No Stranger To You
No stranger to you was the two way mirror of ASTY. I love two-way mirror but I don't like it as much as is it really you? whereas no stranger to you is dead even with the way it breaks and is it really you? So this actually goes to ASTY
ILIIAITE: 2, ASTY: 2
Screaming vs Fortress Down
I love Fortress Down so much man, but it's basically Screaming part 2, and Screaming is SO SO SO good man. It's prob the best on ILIIAITE.
ILIIAITE: 3, ASTY: 2
Block of Flats vs Aggressive Evolution
Can't decide, this is dead even.
ILIIAITE: 4, ASTY: 3
Heavy is the head vs Gemini
Honestly, they seem really similar to me in terms of vibe and to be honest, I don't like them as much as Loathe's other heavy songs (like Revenant, Gored, It's Yours, Babylon..., Banshee). If Heavy is the head didn't have its nice outro that led into Sad Cartoon, I think I'd slightly give this to Gemini by half a point. But they're so close that because of the outro, I think this is even
ILIIAITE: 5, ASTY: 4
Revenant vs Gored
Dead even NGL
ILIIAITE: 6, ASTY: 5
I let it in (song) vs GES
This is so hard because I couldn't think of any other songs to compare these 2 to. But I think this fits as they both have a similar vibe towards the end (though the most similar song to I let it in would really be Dimorphous Display). GES is SO good and beats out a pretty good amount of ILIIAITE's discography, but it narrowly loses here since I let it in doesn't drag on or feel wasteful.
ILIIAITE: 6.5, ASTY: 5
Sad Cartoon vs Fangs
These two are also heavy hitters with sort of similar vibes. It's so so close, that again, I can only really give Sad Cartoon half a point here.
ILIIAITE: 7, ASTY: 5
Broken Vision Rhythm vs Harder to Pretend
I actually fucking love Harder to Pretend, so it takes this
ILIIAITE: 7, ASTY: 6
New Faces in the Dark vs Meet my Maker
I really like Meet my Maker and tbh this is a weird matchup, and honestly I was inclined to compare New Faces to Block of Flats (they'd tie), but Aggressive Evolution seemed more similar to block of flats, and AE and New Faces are equal to me anyway. Regardless, New Faces takes this.
ILIIAITE: 8, ASTY: 6
Extra song: The Ladder
I actually really like The Ladder, and because we get 1 extra real song over ILIIAITE, this point goes to ASTY.
ILIIAITE: 8, ASTY: 7