Of all the Nine Inch Nails albums this one is probably the most difficult one to review since Trent Reznor's music has changed so much over the years. He has quietened down so much since his groundbreaking industrial metal release The Downward Spiral. I still consider The Downward Spiral to be his best album as the music was so intense and angry, yet felt very personal. The next album The Fragile was another great release, as Trent ventured into experimental territory. Most of the anger that was displayed was gone, and in it's place was a feeling of focus and direction, and also beauty, as some of the tracks have some really tranquil moments. With Teeth didn't receive too many great reviews, although I thought it was a fairly good release. The concept album Year Zero received much better praise than With Teeth, and was a very good album that was entertaining, interesting and dark. Then Trent decided it was time for him to leave the Universal record company, a lot of his fans, including me, thinking that perhaps that would be the end. How wrong I was as only a year on from Year Zero, Trent sneakily releases this album on the web for download!!

The music is multi-layered, combining keyboards, tribal drums, violin, industrial blast beats, some good guitar work, ripping bass lines and more. The overall mood of the album is once again very personal, and ambient, creating light and dark textures throughout. All I can say that what Trent has released is completely different to anything that you will listen to. Trent is a master at creating a certain mood in his albums, my one gripe with this album is that I have to be in a certain mood to listen to it. Most times I find myself struggling to listen to the whole album. I am not slamming the quality of the music, because Trent has created a masterpiece of ambience, it's just that it is not an album that I will repeatedly listen to. My personal view on this album is that this is a starting point of more great things to come from Trent. The album being visual rather than lyrical is a fantastic concept, that I think is very interesting and fresh, yet next time I think he should release a shorter album, although you never know with Trent.

Unfortunately I cannot give this album 5 stars at the moment, as I still consider The Downward Spiral as a genre defining album in industrial metal, and The Fragile as a very close second place. However I will dedicate more time listening time to this album, and who knows I may give it 5 stars in the near future.