Closer is the only record remotely like it. I woulda said UP twenty years ago, but not now.

There were some other Factory or Factory-type bands that mined similar territory then, like Section 25 or Crispy Ambulance, or A Certain Ratio on "All Night Party," for example. But am not aware of any of said bands being able to sustain the kind of intensity over the course of a whole LP that Closer exhibits.

It's just one of those albums that has to be taken in as a complete sequence. Unless one is in the regular habit of listening to bleak music, it's likely to come off as inordinate, but even if one is, it's hard to match. Would say that I generally find other bleak music a lot less inviting. On Closer it's as if Curtis is really taking the listener on a trip, but it's not a pose, or merely a mood, or a plea, or a series of grievances or whatever--it's him carrying what he feels is "the stuff of life" (his life) to its logical conclusion.

Listening to it, with the knowledge of what happened afterwards, one can understand why New Order was bound to head in a comparatively more colorful direction, with the occasional heavenly highs and all that ("Age of Consent," "Dreams Never End," "Bizarre Love Triangle," etc.).

Not even close. It's Closer.

Both are uniquely incredible and have informed my musical taste since college in the mid to late 80s.
Younger me would say Unknown Pleasures, as most of the songs on it are ingrained in my memory. I put on Closer a couple three months ago and it reminded me how great the album was.

So my vote goes with the one I listened to most recently.