The Nine Inch Nails thread

I can't really decide on a favourite at this moment. Maybe Various Methods of Escape. This album is grovey. Too awesome. I think I could lose myself in here.

 

I must admit I had the same feeling. Now, I'm a superfan but I still sat there thinking, "Wow. This is really, REALLY good!" Currently it terms of repeat playability from song to song I rate it above Year Zero. There is still stuff I skip on that album. This album feels like the character from TDS is growing into the militant on Year Zero. Lyrics are top notch which Trent has been slipping on.

Quick song-by-song review


The Eater Of Dreams: Paranoid little intro.
Copy Of A: Great vocal production. That four note sequence in that crazy time! Love the claustrophobic bridge section.
Came Back Haunted: Sounds much better slamming in after Copy of A. Lyrics seem to create a better story coming in from Copy of A. Dat Bass. Classic NIN "bring the layers and cut it" at the end.
Find My Way: Hauntingly beautiful & sparse. Drums are similar to the Me, I'm Not pattern (they are played after each other on tour). Those background voices(?) are wonderful. I like the prayer quality of this song. You can feel his scoring forays influencing this song.
All Time Low: Into the Void levels of FUNKY. Dat falsetto!! I believe that's Belew in the back with that lovely guitar. Lovely arpeggio/falsetto outro.
Disappointed: I LOVE that bass/synth pattern. RWIB style muffled verses which makes the chorus sound right in your face. Love all the droning guitar and that amazing ebb and flow bridge. Of course the Erhu.
Everything: Major chord pop/punk assault and I love it. Triumphant but with a bit of sarcasm. I love that he says "Wave Goodbye", as in the 'last tour', because of course he's back.
Satellite: Beat reminds me of Muse. More falsetto. Definitely closer to the Year Zero universe. One of my favorites. Paranoid and funky. Some Big Comedown style out of tune guitar at the end. Another "bring in the layers" kind of outro. Really transcendent.
Various Methods Of Escape: Kind of a Sneaker Pimps style trip-hop beat. Nice vocal production. I love that it goes into a loud rock direction. Seems to reference "The Space In Between" (song & video) with the line "a fire illuminates the final scene". Probably best chorus on the album. Bridge is very Ghosts + Still.
Running: Brazilian carnival kind of beat. Propulsive song with Ghost-style mallet percussive backing. Nice vocal layer/harmony. I LOVE that simple, stabbing guitar break melody.
I Would For You: Beat reminds me of the Slip for some reason. Grinding bass! Great chorus (especially that odd fading-in synth). More amazing harmonies. A nice octave guitar psuedo-solo a la The Line Begins to Blur. DAT PIANO OUTRO.
In Two: Funky yet tough Year Zero type beat. Nice vocal echoes/effects. Vocal delivery reminds me of Great Destroyer verses. DAT CHORUS. Probably my favorite chorus. "Yes, of course, this is gonna hurt." Love it. Drops into a brige very reminiscent of the bridge from With Teeth. Love that Fragile slightly-out of tune guitar. This song feels like a mixture of every era of Nine Inch Nails. Definitely shows his growth. This song has everything.
While I'm Still Here: Very Ghosts-like beat and percussion. Very heartfelt song. Kind of regretful. Great vocal performance. I want to say Buckingham is on this track with that solemn guitar. And oh god that outro. I wanted that to go on for days!
Black Noise: Morphs While I'm Still Here into a very dark and uncomfortable outro. This album doesn't resolve on a happy note haha. Makes you want to replay the whole thing again. Sounds like the Earth falling into a black hole.

 

I haven't seen one negative reaction out yet. It could end up right there with TDS and The Fragile when all is said and done. I'm really happy for Trent. I'm really fucking happy for myself, too. This is some insanely good shit.

 

I see what you did there.

While I'm Still Here - Never before has 7 or 8 one second bits of guitar playing added so much to a song. Seriously.

 

This album is far from minimalist sonically as Trent has described, but I see what he means. Things like the above. Just little bits here and there. The APPROACH is minimalist, but sonically the landscape of the album is vast as fuck.

 

There's not very many melodic things to grab a hold of. A ton of percussion, plucks, clicks/glitches, and pads/soundscapes, which I guess is minimalistic in a sense. It gives him a ton of room to play with his vocals, which are hands down his best ever. It gives off a really different vibe. The production is nuts. Just nuts.

The album quality is ramped up the whole way through. The last few songs leave me speechless. And unlike some of his other albums, it cuts out on a high. It builds you up the entire ride and then just ends. It doesn't leave you with a long instrumental to let you contemplate what you heard. You get hit in the face and all you can do is replay the album.

 

The whole album leaves me speechless in general. I mean, I posted in Random Thoughts for the first time in what feels like a year just because I've run out of places to flip shit about this album. I'm fucking addicted.

 

Trent Reznor's Upward Spiral. I really enjoyed this article.

 

Haha, nice.

 

I think With Teeth fans might get their minds blown by this one, I honestly think it could be his strongest album ever.. and i'm a diehard fan of NIN; been through each album many times.

If you liked Year Zero, this will be right up your street. If you didn't like Year Zero.. chances are you'll pull the sellout card.
My favorites are definitely Satellite, Running, Came Back Haunted, In Two, Copy Of A, I Would For You.. hell every track is amazing aside from Everything, which is still good but hasn't been repeated as much as the others.
This almost feels like NIN's Hybrid Theory to me, it has a lot of mainstream appeal combined with depth, originality and great melodies.. I wouldn't mind if we never got another NIN album, this would be the perfect send off.

 

So far I like the most Copy of A and Came Back Haunted, the latter because it has that "oomph" element to it.

Yes, I said "oomph"

 

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This may be a problem.

EDIT: And this isn't counting my plays at work, since scrobbling doesn't work across the firewall.

 

I've listened through it 3 times now. There's not one song I'm even close to wanting to skip. Doubt there ever will be. Everything is put together so well. I've never felt that way about any album ever. Especially one that's 60+ minutes.

I haven't been paying attention to the lyrics yet. If there's a concept to it, like I heard there supposedly is, then it's going to give Trent's best work a run for its money. It's more skillfully composed than The Downward Spiral and it's tighter and more focused than The Fragile. It's just so different from them yet just as good. It gives me an erection.

 

This is the second NIN album I've listened to. First one was Year Zero. I prefer YZ to this, but this is a great album regardless.

 

Very good read! Thanks for the link!

 

Man, not saying anything bad, but you need to pick up TDS and The Fragile. Oh, to hear those two albums for the first time ever again. I envy you!

 

I will.

 

trent stahp pls my dick can only b so hard for dis album, it hurts so mch pls