Review Summary: They say you get what you pay for...well this was free and it was excellent!
I’m going to be completely honest here, before this album I didn’t pay any attention to Nine Inch Nails. When I saw The Slip for free download (haha NIN is giving us the slip) I said to myself, “Hey, why not?” so I instantly downloaded it the week it came out. I soon forgot to listen to it, and eventually completely forgot about it in general. Then almost a year later, I obtained free tickets to a Nine Inch Nails concert (don’t you just love free stuff?). This being, I remembered the album I had downloaded almost a year ago exactly and began listening. And goddamn I had been missing out on something good! Being that it was free and all, I was not expecting the album to be great by any means, but I was proved wrong.
The first track
999,999 has no real lyrics too it, just a few whispered words in the background and was probably the first real enjoyable into I’ve ever heard on an album. Usually albums with into songs are stupid and have no real purpose, but this one was defiantly needed for the album. It pulls you in to the album with its slow building muffled electronic sound that quickly jumps to the next song
1,000,000. This song has a very heavy bass and electronic tone to it, and a catchy chorus “I feel a million miles away!”, plus a dramatic pause in the middle of the song. So although it’s a good song, its very cliché. Overall though the first two tracks are good, but it only gets better.
The there’s only one single on the album,
Discipline, its probably the most polished song on the album, and it focuses more on the lyrics and vocals instead of the beat. This being is probably the only reason why it was chosen to be the single. It’s a notable track though on because the lyrics are very raw and mesmerizing. Which is something the album does quite well, it draws you in wanting more and more. The next song
Echoplex does the exact same thing. Its random pauses keeps the listener entertained and makes them pay attention to the song. Trent’s voice slowly gets louder through the song, then quickly drifts out again into silence.
Head Down is just as polished as
Discipline, and in many ways better. It could have been the albums single as well. It has a very layed back and dreamy feel to it, but your also but on edge by the high pitched robotic noises in the background, ending in a single heavy bass note. This is probably the best songs on the album. The next song
Lights in the Sky is said by some people to be the best song on the album, but I found nothing exciting about it at all, it’s just bad piano playing and whispered vocals that are barely able to be heard. Although it’s not too good of as a song, it does give the album personality, and I doubt the album would be the same without it.
The next two songs
Corona Radiata and
The Four of Us are Dying are both 100% instrumental tracks. Normally this wouldn’t bother me, but put together its almost twelve minutes of instrumentals. That’s a bit too long, so the album would probably be better off cutting out the seven minute song
Corona Radiata because it’s very boring, and frankly a waste of time listening too until the last minute of song.
The Four of Us are Dying on the other hand is a great song, it has a very quick beat making it sound like a heartbeat, perfectly fit for a horror movie score. It is very fitting for this album as well. The final song
Demon Seed is very strange if you actually read the lyrics, although the beat isn’t fantastic it’s still good, but overpowered by the vocals. It’s different from any other song on the album.
Overall, the album is generally entertaining, and even though it is free, I defiantly would have spent money on this. I got me pumped for the concert, so obviously its good for any new Nine Inch Nails listener, and next time I go to the music store, I’m picking up another NIN album. Most noteworthy songs on the album are, 1,000,000, Head Down, and Echoplex. Therefore if you don’t want to listen to the whole album at least listen to those three, but that will probably make you want to listen to the rest, so you better just download the thing for free! What do you have to lose?
See you tomorrow Trent!
