My player and I are having a bit of an argument about this spell and its wording. It says it "creates" one undead pet for the caster, but otherwise functions as Animate Dead. Our disagreement lies in whether or not this only allows control of one monster up to the HD limit, or can you cast it multiple times to get multiple pets up to the HD limit.
Fundamentally, I believe the spirit of the wording only allows the creation/control of one undead. Otherwise it is just about as formidable as the better spell but requiring more setup and spell slots and available at a lower level should you want a hoard vs single powerhouse (otherwise it already is!).
I do see his point though, and I do agree the literal wording does indeed support it; in Animate Dead, it defines creation and then defines control while lesser does refer to just the creation part (everything else functioning as Animate Dead aka control). though if the Targets section of the spell description is taken broadly across all castings, then the One Corpse vs One or More of its big brother would swing the rules lawyering back in the other direction.
I am just worried that our little divine caster (4th level Oracle in an APL3 group) is going to OP the rest of the group with this amazing spell.