Review Summary: When the instrumental version fights the original release for the crown.
A few days ago in March 2020, Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) released two ambient/instrumental albums for free, called Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts. While those two albums definitely are two great LPs, they don't even come close to the instrumental version of 1999s masterpiece The Fragile. If you tend to think that the original version of this album is the peak of this band you seriously need to dive into The Fragile: Deviations 1 which peels off the vocals to let the real beauty and huge amount of work gone into this beast shine.
The Fragile: Deviations 1 consists of 4 LPs and 37 songs altogether, all of which were created during the record sessions of The Fragile from 1997 to 1999 and released in 2016. Compared to the original double-disc release of The Fragile with 23 songs, you'll get 14 extra songs that have been sorted out back then. Additionally, all 7 instrumental songs/interludes on the original release were included in an alternate version. Those numbers are only rounded up by the extreme high quality of the 180g vinyls (as usual with NIN) you get for your 80 bucks. But enough of the numbers.
The obvious strength of this gem is the sheer amount of jaw dropping work put into The Fragile back in the days, that is untouched until today. Without the voice of Reznor being the center of the songs most of the time, this album starts to be a whole new experience. The composition begins to shine and even the quietest of effects can be heard. There are only few songs that lose attraction without the vocals like Somewhat Damaged which suffers from a little too much instrumental repetition. Most of the songs can be seen from a different perspective which – once acquired – can even improve the listening of the original version of The Fragile when you start paying attention to the little details and how they potentially interact with Reznors voice and lyrics.
However, this version of The Fragile works perfectly on its own and I am sure that if this was the original release in 1999, it would have been a huge success too. The unhealthy and inhuman perfectionism by Trent Reznor is all over the place. Don't get me wrong: I absolutely love NIN with vocals but once you recognize what kind of Leviathan this project was, you'll begin to love this even more than the original release. If you like the ambient/instrumental releases of NIN like the Ghosts-series or some of their OSTs, I genuinely urge you to take a deep dive into The Fragile: Deviations 1 and you will discover whole new soundscapes being layered and layered until they merge into one beautiful picture.
