Album Review: Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral

Trent Reznor released what could be considered his ‘opus’ with Nine Inch Nails in 1994.  The album is a hard-edged, ‘industrial’ album full of pounding beats, distorted guitars and Reznor screaming blue murder.  It opens with Mr Self Destruct which follows this template to the letter, and is followed by the much quieter Piggy, a creepy, almost whispered track with Reznor singing profundities such as “nothing can stop me now cos I don’t care anymore”.

Heresy is much dancier and more electronic though it still allows for Reznor to scream “your God is dead! And no one cares!”, which actually sounds awesome.  After the equally pounding March of the Pigs the intensity reduces slightly for the slow-grind of Closer.  It opens with a squelching beat, possible lifted from Iggy Pop’s Nightclubbing and most of the track consists of this plus bass and a great vocal from Reznor, dialing up the tension as he sings “I wanna f**k you like an animal”.  It’s a wonderful exercise in creeping tension while all the while remaining melodic and danceable.

Ruiner and The Becoming which follow this track sound suitably foreboding and dramatic.  It’s not all screaming intensity.  A Warm Place is a moment of keyboard-led tranquility, while final track Hurt is the creeping ballad which provided such potent material for Johnny Cash in his final years.

Possibly the Queen Is Dead of industrial thrash, it’s probably the definitive Nine Inch Nails album, and a thrilling ride.

Album Review: Joy Division - Closer

Joy Division released their second and last album in the aftermath of singer Ian Curtis' suicide in 1980.  Everything, from the artwork, the song-titles and the music has the pallor of death over it.  But this is an album that deserves to be taken on its own merits, out of context.

The opening two tracks, Atrocity Exhibition and Isolation sound more experimental than their earlier work, with the keyboards and Stephen Morris' drums on the latter sounding almost lo-fi.  These two tracks laid down the template for the scratchier end of 80s goth (eg early Sisters of Mercy singles), especially Peter Hook's bassline.  Passover is a far more brooding track, albeit with some great guitar lines from Bernard Sumner.  A Means to An End, on the other hand has an almost disco beat, with a simple melody descending into Ian Curtis' despairing lyrics ("I put my trust in you... I put my trust in you") as the guitars spiral beautifully downwards.

The second half of the album begins with Heart and Soul, which sees the band lay the template for the early minimalist Cure (17 Seconds/Faith).  An insistently pulsing bassline provides the bedrock for Curtis' portentous, resigned lyrics.  Twenty Four Hours picks up the pace with heavier guitars and Curtis growling "so THIS is permanent?".  After the funereal plod of The Eternal the album concludes with the bleak, icy melody of Decades, all wintry keyboards and regret ("where have you been?").  It will haunt you when you sleep.

Bleak as it gets then, but essential.

Album Review: Low – Things We Lost In The Fire

2001’s Things We Lost In The Fire, Low’s fifth album (or sixth if you count the Christmas EP) feels like a kind of leap forward. Which is not necessarily a good thing!

It opens with Sunflower, which has a simple, descending melody overlaid with pounding drumbeats. What saves it is that the actual playing, singing and instrumentation is so good, it’s hard to ignore. The album takes a sharp left turn with the sinister, almost threatening Whitetail, with the deathly slow lines “stay… up… all… night… waste… time… waste… night…” And that IS as good as it sounds.

They change tack again with Alan Sparhawk’s heavy riffs on Dinosaur Act, which almost sounds like a ‘standard’ alternative rock song. Mimi Parker gets to do her ghostly shimmering thing on Laser Beam and Embrace, where her wobbling vocals are given gloriously sparse settings.

Although the album slows to a crawl with tracks like Whore and Kind of Girl, Like A Forest picks up the pace dramatically, before one of Low’s warmer tracks Closer, which, like July earlier on the album, features a gorgeous string section.

Many consider this one of Low’s more accessible albums. I’m not so sure. There are accessible tracks (Sunflower, Dinosaur Act) but also foreboding tracks like Whitetail and Embrace. But it’s a strong album, and it stacks up well with Low’s other releases.