Well, given the once-over I gave the reviews on this very site, it looks like I can guess as to the response I'm probably going to see up there...but for sake of argument, I'm curious to know how people'll respond when asked to compare them directly to each other. And why not? I mean, I purchased them together. They came in this cute little two-for-the-price-of-one-and-a-half package... 

Basically, in case it wasn't quite clear, 2011 Devin Townsend release which do you prefer: the comical metal one or the acoustical ambient one? I THINK I'm supposed to prefer the comical metal one, but I don't somehow...which genuinely surprised me, since I loved the big-headed pants off of Ziltoid. I have a suspicion that Deconstruction is, first, a bit too chaotic and a bit too uniform for my tastes; that is, the madcap metal riffage was not AS grounded in plot (oh! Like Ziltoid was!), and it was not quite diverse enough for these ears, to keep things consistently interesting. Unsurprisingly, my favorite tracks were the ones that were either consciously funny ("Deconstruction"), internally diverse ("Praise to the Lowered") or both (the dance metal of "The Mighty Masturbator"). I also thought it was long. Twenty minutes longer than Ziltoid to be precise (why must I keep bringing that poor green chap up?). There must have been something in there to nip...

So why am I stuck with Ghost? It's just as long, and ultimately, just as hooky (that is, more "professionally pleasant" than "truly memorable" in some significant way). I mean, well produced. And it's definitely pretty. But if you strum an acoustic guitar and toss some synths in the background and you're not, you know, trying to suck, it's hard to not be pretty... And yet, there's this marvelous run of "Feather" to "Kawaii" to "Ghost" to "Blackberry" that, while it's not perfect, it sort of transcends pretty-and-pleasant. For a moment. Don't put too much thought into that. Maybe. 

Basically, it's not that I dislike either album. In fact, they're both above the average, in their own ways. It's just that I don't know if either one is GREAT, and I definitely don't know which is better...