Review Summary: Although holding back, Nine Inch Nails deliver a condensed yet entertaining mainstream release.
Picture this: a perfect character on the surface. Someone normal, an average Joe you would see every day on the streets. Now imagine that character picked apart. Imagine that character disassembled limb by limb, beaten to a pulp, and scattered across a room. The character is no longer whole, they’re less than a normal person. The character is weak, feeble, broken in every way imaginable. They’re completely useless and small. They’re less than a person mentally, physically, and emotionally. Now that you’re picturing this disgusting pile of humanity, as gruesome as it is, imagine that character putting themselves back together. From the pit of loneliness and regret – they are slowly crawling out stitched and stapled together. They adorn their scars and scratches like they’ve been there the whole time. Now we place them in society. We put them in coffee shops, workplaces, everyday scenery. Think of this horrendous creature, beaten and battered, in these environments. No one stops and stares, they don’t even notice the bruises. All they see is the average Joe from before. Now your character, instead of fighting against the torment from before, does something different: they accept the pain. That is the story of
With Teeth.
With Teeth is a concept album that integrates the scene we’ve imagined above. This album is about acceptance. We place the disgusting waste of a person into normal life and have them accept themselves for what they’ve become. They’re ugly, disgusting, and a waste of space: but that’s okay. They’re numb to the point that even nothing feels empty. They’ve lost all sense of feeling and now they accept it. They accept their faults, triumphs, pain, and deliverance. The most egregious part, however, is moving on from it.
With Teeth explains the slow process of assimilating, rehabbing, and reassembling of a person into society after such an incident. After five long years, Nine Inch Nails dish out an album stockpiled with answers to the question of what happens next. Our answers come in the form of a watered down, polished, and somber Nine Inch Nails. One that changes their raw and thrashing style for a darker, somber, and atmospheric approach.
The moodiness of
With Teeth is one of the best attributes of the album. ‘All the Love in the World’ opens the album with a somber tone. The moody and moving bass washes through a sharp piano scale and hushed vocal display. This is the norm for
With Teeth. The Nails trip away the aggression and raw tone of the past with a barren and bleak outlook. The album’s modernized alt-rock style plays to the tune of their now refined and replaced character from above. We watch the Nails fit this broken character into a new mold that boasts a shiny exterior, but even darker core. ‘The Hand That Feeds’ puts the style more in focus with a banger about politics and religion. The upbeat and melodic style made ‘The Hand That Feeds’ a huge crossover hit and wiggled its way up the charts. ‘Every day is Exactly the Same,’ my favorite of the album, continues the moodiness in an atmospheric song about an apathetic outlook. “I believe I can see the future ‘cause I repeat the same routine,” drills into the listener a hopeless sentiment of a routine life. The song carries over to a dulled vocalist who, through atmosphere and ambiance, delivers a masterfully miserable song about trying to accept their repetitive life.
With Teeth succeeds in diversifying the Nails already vast repertoire, however, the album isn’t without its faults. Disregarding the hype and high expectations from fans,
With Teeth was a bit too polished for some. The album lacked the grittiness and unpolished feel to fully deliver the tone Nine Inch Nails hoped to achieve. The album was clearly aimed for a more commercial audience, yet in doing so, alienated a lot of fans in the process. The album wasn’t *too* contrived, but there was a sense of artificial qualities. ‘The Hand That Feeds’ wasn’t as confrontational as it should have been. We know the Nails go full force with their attacks, yet they held back. The band who prides themselves on banned videos, singles, and performances HELD BACK against George W. Bush? We are supposed to accept ‘The Hand That Feeds’ to be a full frontal assault, yet lyrically, instrumentally, and physically the Nails hold back?
That is perhaps the biggest fault
With Teeth contains. The Nine Inch Nails held back and it’s noticeable. In an attempt to be desolate and grim, the Nails feel halted in some way. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what or where, but through the entire album, there’s an x-factor absent. Perhaps it’s the radio friendly approach. Either way, the album isn’t completely a lost cause.
With Teeth is a rather enjoyable listen. There are moments of pure genius, like ‘Right Where it Belongs.’ ‘Only,’ the fan favorite from the album, best explains the duality complex of the record. “I just made you up to hurt myself,” puts power into the two sides of our character lashing out. By assimilating to his new persona, our character has to rid himself of the other side who wants to drag him back down. The album might be a bit light for some, but listening to a toned down Nine Inch Nails is just as entertaining as an unleashed version. I still find it a gem of the early 2000’s. Still, one has to imagine how the album would turn out if the Nine Inch Nails went full force. Would it be the same?
Standout Tracks
Only
Right Where it Belongs
Sunspots
The Line Begins to Blur
