Artist : Nine Inch Nails (1988 - present)Title : The Slip (2008)
Genre : Industrial Rock
Rating : ***** **½ (out of 10*)
This Week I'm Listening To...
Trent Reznor celebrates NIN's freedom from a record company telling them what to sound like by releasing not one, but two free-to-download CD's in 2008. The first one, Ghosts I-IV, is a study in minimalism. OTOH, The Slip is a legitimate full-length CD (10 tracks; almost 44 minutes) that you can legally snag with Reznor's blessing at (where else?) http://www.nin.com/ .
What's To Like...
I have to start by saying that this is the first NIN album that I have ever listened to in depth. So I won't be comparing it to any of their earlier stuff.
The arrangements are excellent. I presume I have Reznor to thank for that. The lyrics are adequate, and you can understand what he's saying. (Methinks I've been listening to too much Doom Metal lately). The instrumental portions are really quite good.
And did I mention this - it's free!
What's Not To Like...
Okay, enough of the guitar reverb already. Who do you think you are, Jimi Hendrix? Reznor also has this annoying habit of taking a couple bars of perfectly good music, and repeating them ad nauseum. The spirit of Erik Satie must be possessing his soul.
Last, and least, this disk seems to freak out my truck's CD player. Normally it is constantly spitting out the Track Number, and how many seconds have played on any individual track. But with The Slip, all it does is keep repeating "Unknown Artist - Unknown Album" over and over again. Weird.
The Din of NIN...
I suspect that NIN is, like red wine, Polka-Metal, and Salvador Dali, an acquired taste. Lots of people have given their opinions of The Slip at RateYourMusic; there doesn't seem to be any consensus. Some, like me, think that Tracks 6-10 are better than Tracks 1-5. Others think that Reznor hasn't done anything good since the mid-90's I do find it amazing that the overall rating for Ghosts I-IV is higher than The Slip at RYM (3.53 vs. 3.35).
Personally, I found myself liking this album a lot more than I anticipated. I was expecting thrashing, gnashing, and bashing; instead I got ten catchy, carefully-constructed songs. We'll give it 7½ stars, and bump that up to eight if they cut back a bit on the distorted guitar. And maybe-just-maybe allow ourselves to be talked into going to see them in concert the next time they pass thru Phoenix.
5 comments:
I got hooked on NIN with 'Pretty Hate Machine'. I think 'Downward Spiral' is my next favorite. It's just good gym music. ;)
P.S. Sorry I deleted the first comment, I'm a little O.C.D. when it comes to typos in my writing. :P
i listened to the first track from PHM last night, and the first two tracks from DS. i have to say, they were very good. who knows? i may yet become a NIN-freak.
Grab a glass of wine and listen to both discs of The Fragile all the way through. Download the FLAC versions so you don't miss anything.
If you're not a NINny by the time the album's done, I can't help you.
I liked NIN through the Fragile. After that, I had kids and lived in rural Wisconsin, which meant I had little access to music in general. When I regained the land of the living, I checked out the new NIN stuff and realized they sounded the same as they' sounded many years befofe. The first couple albums had a progression in them, evolution. Then they hit Fragile, and after that, everything sounds the same. I wasn't impressed. Actualy, I was downright bored. I haven't listened to these frees ones, to be fair. I think I've had my NIN fill already. I must say there are songs on The Fragile that are some of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I don't even like the entire album, but some are just gorgeous.
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