OrbDragon
01-20-2004, 01:43 PM
While I've never been that big of a fan of NIN or Trent Reznors repetitive angst lyrics...this is still one of my top 5 favorite records ever. It's two discs full of amazing, innovative, daring and beautiful music. I found it hard to take Trents songwriting on PHM and The Downward Spiral seriously (A Warm Place and Something I Can Never Have were great though)...in this record, Trent shows of his real talent for musicianship and composing. I don't listen to it as much as 4 years ago (where this cd was 50% of my rotation), but it's never a bore when I do take it for a spin every once in a while.
Disc 1:
01 Somewhat Damaged
This is an angry song that's constructed in a really cool way, with different rhythms, sounds and melodies in different time signatures all fitting together as one great whole. It's pretty heavy despite the lack of distorted guitars and such. 4/5
02 The Day The World Went Away
This is a beautiful, slow, melodic song. The verses are really timid, and after Trent sings the words from the song title it goes ito this fragile guitar part that makes it seem as if the song is over. Very suddenly it bursts into this epic, melodic climax, with some amazing vocals. Very unexpectedly it suddenly fades out really quickly...amazing stuff. 4.5/5
03 The Frail
This short piano interlude is my favorite part of the entire cd...and it ranks up there as one of my favorite musical moment. It's this gorgeous stripped down piano melody, and after awhile those beautiful keys come in, and the piano goes into a lower melody. It sounds as if you're on your way to heaven. Through headphones, this is just amazing. After awhile just the keyboards/vocal dubs remain and then... 5/5
04 The Wretched
...that volatile piano riff of "The Wretched" starts. As the song says, it's not a happy song. The verses have a really creepy synth fading in at times. The chorus is heavy and guitar based...the lyrics are the usual, not that good, but the song is still listenable. It's got a cool distorted solo near the end of the song. 4/5
05 We're In This Together
The intro to this track is one of the scariest I've ever heard. It's got that volatile droning guitar riff fading in with some really creepy atmospheric sounds. Then Trents voice gradually fades in till the drums starts...awesome! This is a pretty long, epic, heavy melodic tracks that can be interpretated as both sad or positive. The piano outro is great too. 4/5
06 The Fragile
The title track has lyrics in the third person, something rarely seen in Trents work. I love the breaking glass effect in the drums (did they just put a bag of broken glass in the bassdrum), fits the song title. The chorus contains some of the most emotional singing I've heard from Trent. I love the guitar solo..which plays the same melody as The Frail. It's just a beautiful melody. 4.5/5
07 Just Like You Imagined
This a great semi-instrumental, with some classical piano playing...ad lots of layered keys. I love the part with the piano melodies and Trents vocal synths building up until the beat starts again. Good stuff. 4/5
08 Even Deeper
The song starts with an underwater sonar effect...and is greeted by a triphopish beat. This song does have a bit of a Massive Attack-ish atmosphere at times. The little fills in the drums are really neat to listen to. The chorus is a bit more guitar oriented...it's a very atmospherical track, and the lyrics aren't the worst Trent has written. 4/5
09 Pilgrimage
This is another cool instrumental that sounds like a march of some sorts. It's got lots of chants and snare drum work...as some cool melodies. 3.5/5
10 No, You Don't
The intro is cool...it sounds as if you are about to go through the portals of heaven but an angel says "No, You Don't" and kicks you down into the depts of hell :evil: . It's more of a rock song that most of the other tracks on The Fragile...I don't like the song much, the intro excluded. 3/4
11 La Mer
This is definately one of Trents most brilliant musical pieces. It's starts of gorgeously, with beautiful piano melodies. Then a funky drum beat starts midway, very uncharacteristic to the melody, to give strange effect. Then the song is attacked by lots of layered distorted melodies...eventually it sounds like two different songs played simultaneously. After the 'peak' of the song some melodies and beats fade out to create a whole different musical piece. It's an amazing listen. Think of it as caterpillar turning into a butterfly...only musicwise. 5/5
12 The Great Below
This is another amazing song...beautiful melodies, great vocals. It's another song that reminds me of outer body experiences. It's basically two parts...one which has lots of heavenly strings and effects...the other part is more beat oriented. It's a great closer to disc one. 4.5/5
Disc 1:
01 Somewhat Damaged
This is an angry song that's constructed in a really cool way, with different rhythms, sounds and melodies in different time signatures all fitting together as one great whole. It's pretty heavy despite the lack of distorted guitars and such. 4/5
02 The Day The World Went Away
This is a beautiful, slow, melodic song. The verses are really timid, and after Trent sings the words from the song title it goes ito this fragile guitar part that makes it seem as if the song is over. Very suddenly it bursts into this epic, melodic climax, with some amazing vocals. Very unexpectedly it suddenly fades out really quickly...amazing stuff. 4.5/5
03 The Frail
This short piano interlude is my favorite part of the entire cd...and it ranks up there as one of my favorite musical moment. It's this gorgeous stripped down piano melody, and after awhile those beautiful keys come in, and the piano goes into a lower melody. It sounds as if you're on your way to heaven. Through headphones, this is just amazing. After awhile just the keyboards/vocal dubs remain and then... 5/5
04 The Wretched
...that volatile piano riff of "The Wretched" starts. As the song says, it's not a happy song. The verses have a really creepy synth fading in at times. The chorus is heavy and guitar based...the lyrics are the usual, not that good, but the song is still listenable. It's got a cool distorted solo near the end of the song. 4/5
05 We're In This Together
The intro to this track is one of the scariest I've ever heard. It's got that volatile droning guitar riff fading in with some really creepy atmospheric sounds. Then Trents voice gradually fades in till the drums starts...awesome! This is a pretty long, epic, heavy melodic tracks that can be interpretated as both sad or positive. The piano outro is great too. 4/5
06 The Fragile
The title track has lyrics in the third person, something rarely seen in Trents work. I love the breaking glass effect in the drums (did they just put a bag of broken glass in the bassdrum), fits the song title. The chorus contains some of the most emotional singing I've heard from Trent. I love the guitar solo..which plays the same melody as The Frail. It's just a beautiful melody. 4.5/5
07 Just Like You Imagined
This a great semi-instrumental, with some classical piano playing...ad lots of layered keys. I love the part with the piano melodies and Trents vocal synths building up until the beat starts again. Good stuff. 4/5
08 Even Deeper
The song starts with an underwater sonar effect...and is greeted by a triphopish beat. This song does have a bit of a Massive Attack-ish atmosphere at times. The little fills in the drums are really neat to listen to. The chorus is a bit more guitar oriented...it's a very atmospherical track, and the lyrics aren't the worst Trent has written. 4/5
09 Pilgrimage
This is another cool instrumental that sounds like a march of some sorts. It's got lots of chants and snare drum work...as some cool melodies. 3.5/5
10 No, You Don't
The intro is cool...it sounds as if you are about to go through the portals of heaven but an angel says "No, You Don't" and kicks you down into the depts of hell :evil: . It's more of a rock song that most of the other tracks on The Fragile...I don't like the song much, the intro excluded. 3/4
11 La Mer
This is definately one of Trents most brilliant musical pieces. It's starts of gorgeously, with beautiful piano melodies. Then a funky drum beat starts midway, very uncharacteristic to the melody, to give strange effect. Then the song is attacked by lots of layered distorted melodies...eventually it sounds like two different songs played simultaneously. After the 'peak' of the song some melodies and beats fade out to create a whole different musical piece. It's an amazing listen. Think of it as caterpillar turning into a butterfly...only musicwise. 5/5
12 The Great Below
This is another amazing song...beautiful melodies, great vocals. It's another song that reminds me of outer body experiences. It's basically two parts...one which has lots of heavenly strings and effects...the other part is more beat oriented. It's a great closer to disc one. 4.5/5