Interesting you mention this because I just listened to both back to back at the gym tonight starting with King Gizz. I would agree with your assessment wholeheartedly. It’s not bad. It’s kind of good but damn it is samey. I felt the same about Nonagon although I think it is overall a better album. The Oh Sees on the other hand are anything but one dimensional. So far the standout track there was Snickersee but I haven’t finished yet. It gets quite jammy.
I listened in the same order, then to ITRN again later. I enjoyed it just as much the second time, but again I think it said everything it was going to during the first three tracks. Mars for the Rich might be my favorite track, when they played that live it was insane how it blended into the Fishing for Fishies tracks, and the studio version lives up to that.
I'm looking forward to hearing it on vinyl and giving the lyrics a proper read while I listen, but until then I think the second proggier half flies by too fast because of the congruency.
Face Stabber is too sprawling and absolutely cooked to give a decent first impression of I loved it though, I think Henchlock is my favorite. By far my favorite Oh Sees track is Paranoise, my only fault with it is that it isn't at least ten times longer, so I'm enjoying this new jammy direction for them.
When Gumboot dropped Anthony Fantano said something like King Gizz were unintentionally beating the stoner metal bands at their own game (talking about Greenhouse Heat Death and Particularly The Great Chain of Being), which I strongly agree with and I kind of had that attitude going into this; but on this side it seems more like they were trying to beat AC/DC and Slayer at their own game and kind of mastered the sound but essentially didn't quite top them. There are some great future classic King Gizz lyrics in this (Superbug is ridiculous in the best way for that), but it could have done with more Stoner/Doom vibes, or more of their signature Nonagon/Mind Fuzz sound.
Oh well, they've still delivered an album probably in my top 5 of the year and I know I will enjoy many listens of it, KEXP session will be insane.