| Pretty Hate Machine | 1989 |
| Broken | 1992 |
| The Downward Spiral | 1994 |
| Further Down The Spiral | 1995 |
| The Fragile | 1999 |
| Things Falling Apart | 2000 |
| And All That Could Have Been (live) | 2002 |
Post your comments about Nine Inch Nails
A debut of chaotic mechanical madness and industrialized disturbance of noise, the first Nine Inch Nails release is the first showcase of Trent Reznor's heavily emotional and often violent lyrics and bitterly hateful vocals. And it's catchy, too, as the hook-filled angry singles in the pounding anthemic opener "Head Like A Hole" (with the famous 'Black as your soul / I'd rather die than give you control' chorus) and the unsettling, almost rap-like chant "Down In It". "Terrible Lie", meanwhile, is one of the quintessential songs here, with its' experimental noises and screaming chorus giving it an excellent edge prominent throughout. In amazing contrast, however, is the more intimate moment here - the tremendously emotional piano-led ballad "Something I Can Never Have", which is stunning in its' stripped down, utterly hopeless beauty.
The second half is somewhat weaker, however, on account of much of the tracks there beginning to sound identical after awhile - "The Only Time", "Kinda I Want To", and "That's What I Get", while still catchy, are virtually the same song which add little or nothing to the theme of Pretty Hate Machine overall, which brings the rating down somewhat. The creepy synth playing of the great danceable numbers "Sin" and interesting closer "Ringfinger" (which has a quick sample of Perry Farrell's lead off vocal from Jane's Addiction's "Had A Dad" - listen for it!) Overall, this release is very innovative in terms of the industrial music scene, bringing it to a mass audience and all, but too inconsistent and same-sounding for it to be great.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
After contract disputes had prevented the 'band' from releasing any new material
or something of the sort, it sounds as if Trent Reznor locked himself in
a room for a few hours and recorded a half hour of the angriest songs
he could possibly think of, completely wrecking the studio and leaving a
chaotic mess of tapes and machine parts in the process. On his way
out the door, he handed the tape to the exec, and politely told him to release
it. Well, okay, there's probably a lot more to it than that, but seriously,
this 20 minute EP (with two 'hidden' bonus tracks on track 98 and 99 of the
CD) is probably one of the most rage-filled stretches of music released within
the last 15 or 20 or so years at least. Even the attempted quieter
interlude tracks ("Pinion", "Help Me I Am In Hell") have subtle, but very
terrifying background noises and a pretty damn bleak mood to them, and the
heavier songs on here.... damn.
Okay, so we all know that Trent's a really angry dude, but does his rage make for good material? Well, sure it does. The problem I can see here is that while the actual songs are fine, the overall arrangements here don't quite do justice to them in places. In a way, some of this stuff almost predates the annoying trend (mostly used by rap-metal bands - Rage Against The Machine is probably a frequent example of this) of taking a decent anthemic hook and repeating it ad nauseum over the course of 4 or 5 minutes. "Last" and "Happiness In Slavery" are particularly guilty of this, and while the former song isn't really ruined by this since it's not really that substantial anyway, but in the latter's case, there's a really interesting attempt at catchy and uptempo industrial funk with pissed off lyrics that's a bit obscured by the way Trent has to scream 'SLAVERY!' so many times and have the arrangement meander so much.
Fortunately, there are two tracks here that come close to excellent, the most notable of these being the single "Wish". Featuring a burst of stopping and starting mechanical 'wooooosh' noises and a pulverizing two note riff, this spare arrangement is a perfect foil for the screaming and angsty subject matter of the lyrics. For such a simplistic song, it's really catchy, too. Elsewhere, "Gave Up", while not having that memorable of a melody, is an interesting combination of drum machines, warped sounding vocal effects, and a heavy industrial chorus. As for the hidden tracks, I'm not sure if I should count them against the album, especially since they're pretty boring (the Adam Ant cover "Physical" has a neat buzzsaw tone to it, but it's too plodding to really be all that great, and "Suck" really drags), but I'm not sure if that would make a difference in the rating anyway. But still, this is a decent release that effectively paves the way for what's arguably NIN's masterpiece.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
The official full length studio followup to Pretty Hate Machine following the Broken EP, The Downward Spiral is a relentlessly experimental, tortured and uncommercial sounding opus that still made an impact on radio and MTV anyway, thanks to the disturbing hit single "Closer" and its' controversial chorus. "Closer" is typically representative of the rest of this release, carrying that angst theme first apparent on the debut to new atmospheric extremes - machine-like industrial background noises which aren't exactly subtle, as they add a whole lot to the texture and feel of the material
The opener "Mr. Self Destruct" sets the tone with its' relentlessly furious 'And I control you...' refrain after every line - that track, while being a scathing performance, still has a great hook. "Piggy" sets more of a calm and relaxing atmosphere, but once the electronicized background drumming begins, it becomes somewhat more chaotic. The fascinatingly hellish "Heresy", however, really begins to push the album into that particular direction, while the loud as hell, more arena-ish "March Of The Pigs" having the best hook, a gentle 'doesn't it make you feel better' piano-led chorus, and convincing emotion makes it my personal favorite standout track. "Ruiner", meanwhile, musically soars during its' apocalyptic edge, and "The Becoming" gives the feel of being trapped in a pit with a horde of wild animals.
The second half "I Do Not Want This" brings excellent melody to the table again, and ends with its' refrain that is so frightening in its' intent that you wonder if Reznor is really human at all. "Eraser" doesn't do much to disprove this theory, as it's a dirge of uncontrollable noise and unparalleled venom, and surprisingly, the soothing, beautiful instrumental "A Warm Place" follows it as a sort of break for the madness, which again rears its' ugly head on "Big Man With A Gun", which is as anarchic as its' title. "Reptile" and the title track, meanwhile, demonstrate Reznor's considerable ability to create emotionally resonant, beautifully dark soundscapes, while the popular closer "Hurt" rivals "Something I Can Never Have" in absolutely poignant, hopeless beauty to close out a successful, even though ultimately inaccessible and somewhat depressing and confusing release that serves as a great psychological terror.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
Well, I think it's been established that Trent Reznor goes more for soundscape than actual songwriting, but just to drive that point home even further, he labored for five years in following up The Downward Spiral with this, a double album full of harsh, atmospheric passages (with several instrumentals thrown in there) and dense layerings which reveal themselves more with each new listen. I'm not sure how much progression there actually is from the last album, though, which is probably the big flaw here - after that much time going into constructing the record, all he had to offer were expansions on the old sound, and more instrumentals in the vein of the quieter ambience of "A Warm Place"? However, from a different perspective (i.e. one that doesn't go through waiting 5 years after loving Spiral and then hearing this), the result here is actually pretty damn good at times.
One thing that works to the album's advantage is that, despite being somewhere around 100 minutes long, it never seems to drag. Maybe it's because the various instrumental segments (which often do set different, creative moods) seem to be used as atmospheric detours in counterpointing the edgier material at just the right moments. Plus, the songwriting has matured - Trent no longer feels the need to 'shock' listeners with expletive rants and intentionally abrasive tones in the music, gaining the understanding that the use of a few notes at a time can be just as intense as an uncontrolled barrage. Granted, there are exceptions to this found on disc two, like the rant against Marilyn Manson "Starfuckers, Inc." (with an awkward melody, a primitive heavy chorus and irritating lyrics) and the intentionally dissonant piece of shit "Underneath It All", but thankfully, these are rare cases easily drowned out by the good material on here.
And everything else here is good (if not always memorable), some of it even great. Maybe not much of it reaches the highs of earlier, but some come mighty close. On disc one, I'm particularly fond of "The Day The World Went Away", which is built on a really slow and simplistic riff, yet it somehow achives a majestic effect worthy of the best ambient music (maybe because of the dense production sound on the guitars, the subtle layerings in the sound, and the way it all suddenly drops out making way for the appearance of a haunting vocal melody). Also, the title track has a really cool clanking rhythm and bassline, a desperate 'I won't let you fall apart...' chorus, and I just love the way additional nuances appear in the sound as it goes on, and "La Mer" is my favorite of the instrumentals, with the jazzy piano and bassline creating something that's almost atypically uptempo for the band - that is, until about 2 minutes in, where some more bleak soundscapes get added into the mix.
Disc two is definitely the weaker of the bunch (mainly because it has the stinkers on it, and the highs aren't as high), but it still has its' moments. "Into The Void" is a very neatly composed tune, with nice marimba plinking in the introduction giving way to a catchy as hell midtempo techno song backing, with the chant 'trying to save myself, but myself but keeps slipping away...' grafting itself into my head, and more awesome embellishments here and there. "The Mark Has Been Made", meanwhile, is another effectively dynamic instrumental, going from eerie ambience to more edgy guitars and back, "Complicated" is more techno-ish madness (this time done fast), "The Big Come Down" has some strangely odd yet compelling programming effects, and the final instrumental closing track "Ripe (With Decay)" has a quiet, eerie menace to it, almost like it's fading the album away into a mysterious fog, like it's supposed to go away leaving the listener to ponder exactly what they've just experienced.
I haven't mentioned all 23 tracks here, though this is a case where going into all the tracks seriously is pointless, since The Fragile plays out basically like a trip for the listener to experience themselves. Sure, several of these songs could stand out very easily on their own, like the lead single "We're In This Together", a fairly prototypical NIN rocker where the more pop-influenced aspect comes to the forefront, or the densely orchestrated, often Cure-ish "The Great Below" (a serious highlight to close out disc one), but this album was intended to be a 'greater than the sum of its' parts' journey, and that's exactly what it comes out to be. Maybe that particular sum isn't great, but it's definitely an intriguing, worthwhile one, even if not as in-your-face intimidating or strikingly emotional as The Downward Spiral.
Post your comments / reviews for this album