Review Summary: "What I used to think was me is jut a fading memory; I looked him right in the eye and I said 'goodbye'"
One of the chief reasons people seem to hate the original Pretty Hate Machine is the “piss poor production.” These same people cite the music as “quiet,” “lo-fi in the bad way,” and variations thereof. In the remaster, however, it gleams and shines like a polished diamond. The sound in general is very crisp, and it literally sounds like a well-polished modern day pop or industrial rock album with the clipping and compression in full swing.
Before I proceed any further there are a few things I want to address:
1. The first time I heard PHM, I listened to the remaster. With that said, it subconsciously became a tad harder to focus on the more subtle approach to sampling on the original whereas I was used to the conspicuous crisp loudness of the remaster.
2. If The Downward Spirals was NIN’s first album and this remaster became the official release of PHM and made its debut in 2010, I would not at all mind this album too much. Electronic albums suffer most from clipping and are more blatantly discernable than a, say, metal record where it would take someone like Rick Rubin to really distort an electric guitar. But despite the plethora of clipping - still continuing aforementioned theory - this record would be a breath of fresh air and be a more than welcome sound for the band. With this album taking up where The Slip left off, PHM would be a strong achievement in the NIN discography and would even aptly foreshadow the fully electronic laced album Hesitation Marks. However, in the context of a remaster, this album is a disaster. Yes it sounds unbelievably crisp and polished brighter than any diamond (and it succeeds in that way) but the remaster only accomplishes just that.
To avoid a track-by-track I will address typical compliments directed to the remaster to keep the rest of this review concise.
“It sounds less dated and it sounds better with a louder beefed up production!”:
Although the original can sound quite 80’s-ish, there a few other 80’s masterpieces I want to call out that also “suffer” from this outdated type of production: Tears for Fears’ “The Hurting” and Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration.” While neither of those two album don’t necessarily have the musical complexity of PHM (Depeche’ Black Celebration more comparable of the two) upon hearing them, there is no denying that they are quite “quiet” in terms of loudness. Even despite the quietness of those albums, I have never seen, heard, or met anyone who has criticized either of the two for the “outdated”/”quiet” production.
“On Head Like a Hole, the bass is badass and the drums bang your head in the remaster, it’s sexy!”:
If you’re to crank the volume on the original to a comfortably loud level to match the remaster, the drums on both versions have the same punch. But there is one huge difference and it can be found in the chorus. The chorus on the original is claustrophobic with a chainsaw-like guitar riff and synthesizers going absolutely berserk in the background. In the remaster, the (clipped to oblivion) guitar drowns every other instrument out leaving the “banging” drums almost acting more like added bass than actual percussion and the intricate synthesizers in the original are completely gone. And you wanna know something you’ve likely never heard on Head Like a Hole? If you listen closely, you can hear timely sampled cymbals crash sporadically in the far background throughout the chorus. On the remaster it is inaudible.
“Everything is so pronounced! You’ll notice things you didn’t notice in the original sparkle in the remaster!”:
Terrible lie. The drums on “Terrible Lie” and “Down in it” sound like metal clanking, but lose that metallic feel when heard on the remaster. With everything the same volume due to compression, the vocals on “Sin” and “Down in it” are substantially drowned while the instrumentation outdo the vocals and other nuanced samples mixed in. The chorus on the remaster for “Down in it” almost renders the gangly chanted “heeeyy”s while the sporadic guitar lines and sampled drum beats end up sounding like tv static while the repition of “Hey God” that bookends every verse on “Terrible Lie” are drowned out with the sampled guitar riffs also ending up drowned out in the chorus.
Another thing about the instrumentals that become annoying is how loud the background synths become. While on the original the synths that serve as nothing more but to help facilitate the mood of the song, they become way too loud for their use and end up becoming the “loudest” instrument hearable in the extreme cases of compression on this album (just listen to “Terrible Lie”). On the remaster, the “vocal” background synth on “Down in it” (most notable during the bridge and the final chorus) loses notability and the listener will fail to realize that it is reprised later on the last verse and chorus on “That’s What I Get.”
On “Kinda I Want to” the erratic synthesizers and reckless abandon of sampled percussion float around with ease blasting your ears with the barrage of samples; on the remaster it sounds like pure noise moving around the 2 speakers. Closely listening to “Kinda I Want to,” it is noticeable that instrumental elements of “Down in it” are reprised in the breakdown + guitar section but on the remaster it’s going to take quite a few listens with so much of its subtlety lost.
Despite all of that, I firmly believe that “Something I Can Never Have” most definitely benefited the most in terms of the remastered production. While the lyrics are banal, this new remaster more than makes up for it. Indeed the loudness is beefed up but the minimalist type structure grants the song less reasons to suffer due to increased loudness and achieves exactly what the remaster was aiming for. The song, like every other song on the album, is crisp and polished, but the compression ends up (surprisingly) benefitting the song’s ominous atmosphere and leaves it absolutely crushing to listen to with machinery whirring in the background and birds chirping apathetically in the background towards the end. The hopelessness and the despair writhing from every word Trent spits out pleads to the listener to not help him grant what he can’t have (but neither does he want sympathy) but to hear what he’s saying and leave it as a confession he wanted to get off his chest. The confession that the pretty hate machine (whirring and working her gears in the piano/atmosphere driven ballad) will be the end of him.
And that’s what Pretty Hate Machine sounds like. A confession bridled up inside Trent waiting to explode onto the listener in hopes you will, not just hear but to listen to his cries. Regardless of bad remastered production. Pretty Hate Machine will always go down as one Nine Inch Nails greatest efforts as an album, concept, and achievement.
Rating as an album: 5/5
Rating as a "Remaster": 2/5
