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Member since:15.11.2000
Reviews:101
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Pretty Hate Machine, - One of the first real industrial albums as we know it today and possibly the best industrial album ever made. This album was released in 1989, one year after Ministry's 'Land of Rape and Honey' album so it can't really lay a claim to being the first modern industrial album. Industrial music existed well before 1989 in a more experimental and brutal form with the likes of Psychic TV, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle but it was only when bands such as KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, Front 242 and Nine Inch Nails got to grips with using electronics to make aggressive music that modern industrial music was born. Alongside KMFDM's 'Money' album, Pretty Hate Machine is one of the few really electronic/digital sounding industrial albums that really pushed the boundries of what you can do with this kind of music.
The album kicks off in style with the
classic NIN track 'Head like a hole'. This track is solely responsible for putting NIN where they are today as it was the big single from this album and introduced a new concept to the world of industrial music, being able to write good songs. Unusually for an album by any industrial band the sounds on this song and every other track take second place to the songwriting skill's of NIN mainman Trent Reznor. This track sounds like a mix of electro percussion pounding along and very little else until the fuzz frenzy guitars come in for the massive sing along chorus and you realise how Trent Reznor got where he is today. This song is a classic.
It always surprises me just how stripped down and basic this album is and yet it never sounds empty. Somehow NIN have managed to inject a massive amount of emotional charge into an album that has been programmed and engineered with almost surgical precision. It is often impossible to believe that this was produced by just one man sitting in front of a computer. This is best shown on the track 'Something i can never have'. This track is a masterpiece of destructive self pity and yet manages to contain more pent up fury than anything else i have ever heard. Out of all the music i own this is one of the very few songs that has the ability to make me cry. The mix of spooky pianos, washes of sound and Trent Reznors cripplingly honest vocal has the power to totally silence a room full of otherwise happy people so be warned.
Every song on this album is a standout track compared to any other industrial band and anything else NIN have ever done but i would say that out of the remaining tracks the best are 'Down in it' and 'that's what i get'. While both these tracks could be said to sound primitive by todays standards as some parts have a susiciously 80's sound to them, this just doesn't matter as the quality of these songs trancends what they sound like (if that makes any sense). The final track, 'Ringfinger' also deserves a special mention not only because it contains a sample from a Jane's Addiction song (my favorite band) but because of the amazing fuzz guitar sample fest and rolling electronic grooves at the end of the track. Like the rest of the album, it's just sheer genius.
Part of the reason that this album is so good is that nearly everyone can listen to the lyrics and say 'I've been there'. Most of the lyrics deal with people hurting you and expecting too much from you, but being frustrated by being unable to do anything about it. A lot of band's come close to affecting me the way the vocals on PHM do but the lyrics on this album are so painfully/brutally honest it hurt's. This is an album that anyone could relate to if they sat down and listened to what it is saying as everyone has been in this situation at one time or another. Combine this with the fact that the music is totally unique and Trent Reznor's ability to create catchy song's without you even noticing it, and you've got an album that has already become a classic. It's a shame that people avoid this album because of the 'industrial music' tag. This album only gos to prove once again that if you write blinding tunes it really doesn't matter what genre of music you create. Pretty Hate Machine should be prescribed on the NHS. Buy it.
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Considered the breakthrough album that delivered a more palatable version of industrial ... more
music to the commercial audience,Pretty Hate Machineleft its dingy mark on pop culture. The abrasive "sonarchy" of the album was first churned by despondent club-go...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Considered the breakthrough album that delivered a more palatable version of industrial ... more
music to the commercial audience, Pretty Hate Machine left its dingy mark on pop culture. The abrasive "sonarchy" of the album was first churned by despondent club-...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Considered the breakthrough album that delivered a more palatable version of industrial ... more
music to the commercial audience,Pretty Hate Machineleft its dingy mark on pop culture. The abrasive "sonarchy" of the album was first churned by despondent club-go...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Considered the breakthrough album that delivered a more palatable version of industrial ... more
music to the commercial audience, Pretty Hate Machine left its dingy mark on pop culture. The abrasive "sonarchy" of the album was first churned by despondent club-...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Mar 26th, 2001
(Apr 5th, 2001)
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