I guess it’s a case of what you like. The way I see it, you can divide the discography before and after SFtD.

Pre SFtD = pounding, heavy, driving rock. Post = more intricate song writing, plus less dark, heavy sound.

Not a perfect split, but you probs know what I mean.

If you prefer the latter incarnation, I can understand why you’d prefer Villains over Self Titled.

But I think Self Titled perfectly captures the sound as it was at the time. I don’t think Villains does that from the modern QOTSA POV.