This is hard for me to truly decide, since like Plintus, they're both my bro bands. Therefore, i'll treat you all to a nice, long discussion on which band outdicks the other.
Musicianship
DT was always known for having the unique sound. They came up with such creative and balls to the walls riff (look up Punish Mah Heaven). In the beginning, with the first two EP's, their music was a bit simplistic. It got better in Skydancer/Of Chaos And Eternal Night, then wham, The Gallery comes at you. I don't need to explain it's greatness. A Mind's I, Projector, and Haven later, we get Damage Done. It's a great album, but somewhat slower. Then, we get Character, featuring the most catchy and brutal riffs and drumming ever, ever. Fiction...well, wait for a few weeks to find out.
IF had more simplistic songs, but Lunar Strain, Whoracle, and Subterranean has a lot of unique and very creative songs. Colony and The Jester Race were the best albums because of the creativity, and Colony had so much energy yet kept the same ethics of their past albums. It really wasn't until Clayman that they're sound changed. And we all know, don't deny it, that Reroute and Soundtrack To Your Escape sucked, massively. Come Clarity saved them from reaching the annals of sucktitude, hopefully they will learn their lesson about writing songs like My Sweet Shadow or Cloud Connected. I still love them though, I can't deny that I loved their old albums up to 2000, and CC had Vacuum, Versus Terminus, Reflect The Storm and Vanishing Light. All of them were great songs.
Winner - DT
Stage Prescence
DT has incredible stage prescence. Mikael is always up front, incredibly nice, interacting with the crowd, exchanging high fives with crowd members, he notices everyone that is up front just as much as he is.
I don't know much about IF, but according to bootlegs, their just as good. Anders shows a lot of interactivity, a bit of wit, and he's also a nice guy too. He likes to joke around a lot.
Winner - Tie
Attitude
DT focuses on one thing, music. They don't try to be famous, try to say something they shouldn't. They aren't trying to be famous, they just merely did by their music. They don't diss or insult musicians despite how shitty their music is (and they know it, but they still keep their heads bowed, good for them). Their attitude is great, and are totally laid back. I love how they try to include every album except Skydancer and the two EPs (understandable, but I wish they would play Yesterworld or Shadow Duet).
IF has a bit of a rockstar approach, which annoys me. In concert, they focus only on their hits, and that's it. The only old songs I see nowadays are like, what, Graveland? Behind Space? Morphing Into Primal? I think the fans are primarily to blame for this, though. If fans showed enthusiam for ALL their works, not just their past four albums, then we would get much better setlists. Also, they have the tendency to piss me off, especially the interview with Daniel Svennson.
Winner: DT
Score: DT - 2 and 1/2
IF - 1/2
DT wins, fatality.
Next match up: At The Gates vs. The Haunted vs. Opeth vs. Scar Symmetry vs. Amon Amarth vs. A Canarous Quintet/This Ending...which Swede will over top the other?
