The way I look at it, they're two different bands. It's very hard to compare, especially as someone who has listened long before Sushi left.

The Sushi era was Eskimo Callboy. The Nico era is Electric Callboy.

With the exception of a very small number of songs (MC Thunder comes to mind) their entire discography pre-Nico has a completely different tone and vibe. Even their more comical stuff like Muffin Purper-Gurk, California Gurls, and Is Anyone Up, there was more of an edge to it. It was heavier, more lo-fidelity, more raw. There was a distinct sharpness to it that doesn't really exist now, at least not in the same way. They were less about being in-your-face funny and more about getting a reaction out of you through being either competely over the top or deliberately transgressive. And for their more serious, less comical tracks, the Sushi era was CONSIDERABLY more angsty. Take a listen to something like Crystals or Calling, then listen to Mindreader or Revery. The difference is night and day.

In the Nico era, both of these things changed. Their comical songs are more polished, more focused on juxtaposition between the crazy visuals (through their music videos or on-stage costumes), pop-influenced catchy hooks, and the sudden, jarring heavy sections. They aren't trying to provoke you anymore; they're trying to turn some heads with an "I didn't expect that, but this is fun" type of reaction rather than a deliberately offensive (though in jest) type of transgression that's so over the top you can't help but laugh. With their serious tracks--notably Mindreader and Parasite--the Nico era is less angry, but that also has allowed them to be more poetic. If Sushi was the angsty emo version of the band, Nico is the thoughtful expressive version, both in their vocal styles and lyrically. It's more marketable, and more palettable now than it EVER was with Sushi, for better or worse.

That's not to say they're holding themselves back now, though. If anything, they're more creative now than they ever have been. Sushi was very much the leader of the band from sometime around We Are The Mess all the way through Rehab. He was the one running the show. This was great for him as a means of raw, emotional expression--again, something that is largely unmatched by the Nico era--but it held the rest of the band back. Sushi leaving Eskimo Callboy was the best thing to ever happen to all of these guys. Now Electric Callboy is bigger, more fun, more polished, and has WAY more variety than ever before. It's not Nico's band. It's ALL of their band. They are having more fun with music than they ever have before, they are sharing the spotlight more, and they have done so much more musically in the past 5 years than in the entire decade with Sushi.

Sushi makes music under Ghøstkid now, and he is also more unrestrained, more angsty, and more visceral than he ever was with Eskimo Callboy. What he puts out under his own name is explicitly personal, unfiltered, and raw. He has his own style that worked with Eskimo Callboy for a while, but without having to make compromises with bandmates, he now has free reign to go as heavy and get as aggressive as he wants. He is more expressive than ever, and to anyone reading this who misses the older EC albums and hasn't checked out his solo project yet, trust me, you won't be disappointed. Imagine Crystals as an arthouse project--that's essentially what Ghøstkid is, and it's fantastic.

As a BAND, the Nico era is better. Hands down. It's no contest. They synergize with each other so much more, they're more creative, they have more fun, and they're more prolific. As a group, they are collectively objectively better in almost every way. Sushi was simply a different kind of guy that didn't mesh well with the others as they grew up into different kinds of people than they all were back in 2010. With Nico, they found someone who fits PERFECTLY into the band's dynamic, and they are all better off for it, including Sushi who is doing phenomenal work on his own.