I vote Loveless all day long, for the same reasons as littered all throughout this thread.

But, when I had a quick thought about these two, I really made the connection between Loveless' cover and how much it is a visual representation of the music. The album is as romantic and emotional as any album ever released and it's depths are still undiscovered by those who have even listened to it even 100 times. I remember staring at the album cover the 4/5th time I heard this album and feeling like I discovered how to truly interpret music visually. The faded, blurry, guitar, smothered in layers and layers and layers of pinks and reds combine the infinite planes of sound and the romantic power has oozing out of every single track.

Album covers usually don't mean much to me, but Loveless is not only an exception, it's also the tangible evidence for what an albums cover can do combined with the music.

better melodies

i didn't like the previous two albums much

A host of bands sounded - or at least attempted to sound - like Loveless after its release, but very few sounded like it before. It was doing something new, yes the likes of S3, Sonic Youth and even Dinosaur Jr were experimenting with feedback and distortion, but Shields managed to do something with guitar music that hadn't been done before. His 'glide guitar' technique, pitch-bending, digital reverb, use of samples and studio manipulation resulted in a sound that, when released, had peers stumped. It expanded sonic possibilities, transforming the relationship between noise and melody.

People can undermine the artistic merit of Loveless all they want, and it's inevitable that there will be a backlash against something that has generated such reverence, but for me, it is one of the finest albums ever released - and there's nothing hyperbolic about that statement.

Agree with all of that, completely.

Loveless, hands down.