“The Downward Spiral” is an album that I simply can’t recommend highly enough. My first Nine Inch Nails purchase, it certainly gave me a taste for their music, and I have gone on to purchase another 6 of their releases since.
The album mirrors Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails’ main man)’s own downward spiral, a result of drugs, pressure, paranoia and other contributing factors. As such the album is stark and sometimes disturbing, though never anything less than enthralling and utterly fascinating. Reznor succeeds in drawing in the listener and holding them tight until the “stop” button is pressed.
By genre, the album is an “Industrial Rock” release, but this is such a vague term that it doesn’t really do the album justice or really help describe it. I feel this album is one that will be liked and rated by people for the simple fact that it is stunning and intriguing, not because in happens to fall into someone’s genre of choice. Think of it like a good book, and I think this helps to explain the potential range of appeal this album has.
The best-known song from the album is the stunning 6-minute epic, “Closer” (Gary Numan’s song of the last century, in case you want more than my words of recommendation). This is representative of the high quality throughout the album, but is not indicative of the style of the whole album. Like many Nine Inch Nails releases, the album contains various styles and approaches, ranging from aggressive, abrasive walls of sound that descend on the listener (opener “Mr. Self Destruct”) through to peaceful, sublime, yet powerfully moving instrumental moments (the beautiful “A Warm Place”).
“The Downward Spiral” is an album that I don’t think deserves to be regarded as a collection of songs, as it is so much more than that. One of the reasons this album works so well and is so effective is that it fits together to make one powerful masterpiece. This is not to say that the songs don’t stand up to individual scrutiny, each and every song is brilliant, just that I believe to be fully appreciated and understood they should be heard in the context of the album as a whole.
By producing such an uncompromising record, “The Downward Spiral” certainly can’t be described as the most accessible album ever made, and for this reason, I can’t stress how important it is to persevere when listening to this album. After the first listen, I thought to myself, “Yeah, this is really good,” but it was only after sitting down and reading through the lyrics booklet and then listening to the album straight through about 3 times that it really clicked. And only once this album “clicks” do you really begin to appreciate and take notice of the genius therein, the more you listen, the more you hear. You don’t just listen to this record; you “participate” in it. When listening to it you feel it as much as anything.
Make no mistake, I am not saying this album is hard to listen to, I’m just making the point that to get the most out of it requires a little effort, and please believe me when I say it’s worth it. It won’t appeal to all, but I am sure many will find it as thrilling and feel as passionate about it as I do. Enjoy.
Tracklisting:- 1)"Mr. Self Destruct" [4:30] 2)"Piggy" [4:25] 3)"Heresy" [3:54] 4)"March" of the Pigs [2:59] 5)"Closer" [6:13] 6)"Ruiner" [4:59] 7)"The Becoming" [5:31] 8)"I Do Not Want This" [5:41] 9)"Big Man With a Gun" [1:37] 10)"A Warm Place" [3:23] 11)"Eraser" [4:53] 12)"Reptile" [6:52] 13)"The Downward Spiral" [3:57] 14)"Hurt" [6:15] Total [65:09]
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Brilliant op - you said it all! This album is a true masterpiece and you did it justice with this op. Morgan XxXxX
Roboleg 14.10.2001 20:25
Good show Granny, this is a smart op. But you know how I feel about NIN, and half the other bands you listen to!! No seriously, well done. Who's that Dawson joker? What's his dig?
Trev15 06.09.2001 23:04
Nice to read a music op without the usual 1. Blah Blah. 2. Blah, Blah. . .A little creativity is always good ;-)
It's easy to understand why Nine Inch Nails became the industrial band to break out of the ... more
techno ghetto and win a larger audience. Trent Reznor, who records the NIN albums almost entirely by himself (although he tours with a full band), tries very har...
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Advantages: Great industrial music. An album you can listen to all the way through. Disadvantages: A little heavy for some people. Couple controversial type songs
Advantages: Great industrial music. An album you can listen to all the way through. Disadvantages: A little heavy for some people. Couple controversial type songs
Aug 26th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
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