The difference is, execpt maybe Mutt, Keith Olsen, Ron Nevison, Beau Hill, etc didn't write and play everything on the albums they also produced, mixed, mastered, and everything else.
Erik, Fabrizio, Dennis, Alessandro and even Tommy either do, or use the same guys on every album if they're not playing it all themselves.
Also, I just find Erik's writing style absolutely awful. Every cliche is ticked. So forced and fake. Like "this is how it is meant to sound, so this is what I will make" rather than "this is what I feel, so that's what i'll write".
Just can't stand it. And whatever argument you make, Jimi and Toby's albums still could have been recorded by absolutely anyone else and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference, it'd still sound the same.
Niv