Sitting here drooling over the promo copy that flew through the mailbox a couple of hours ago... I'm not a reviewer so this review is obviously crap but fuck it maybe it's of any use to anyone... Enjoy!

***

1 - "All The Love In The World"

Starts off pretty cool with a great electro beat with Trent singing some lyrics and just chanting "Why do you get all the love in the world" over and over...
At the 3:12 mark a stomping beat comes in with some piano phrases and Trent still chanting the same thing over and over... Nice...

2 - "You Know What You Are?"

I predict this is gonna be a crowd favorite, starts off with a hectic, pounding drum roll that keeps going until the (don't you fucking know what you are?) chorus blares to the fore and slaps you like the lil bitch you are... KICKASS track...

3 - "The Collector"

Nice, but nothing special, nice lyrics ("every last one"...)

4 - "The Hand That Feeds"

Again nice, but nothing special, just a very radio friendly song...

5 - "Love Is Not Enough"

Starts off with a echo drum beat and some bass feedback and Trent half talking, singing...
The chorus is synth laden with that sharp, thick, noisy sound...
Nice but nothing special in it...

6 - "Every Day Is Exactly The Same"

Amazing and beautiful song with some really cool retro '80's synth sounds, great lyrics, great chorus and the guy is actually singing for once... A highlight on the album...
The song starts off a bit like teh end of "Closer" (that little piano/synth line) before kicking in with a steady drumbeat and a 80's synth bassline, the chorus is really where it's at with great synth stabs... Great stuff...

7 - "With Teeth"

Sounds like a "The Fragile" leftover, with the drum sound and production, exactly at the 3 minute mark there's a piano break with Trent chanting "I cannot go through this again" over and over until a soft synth solo takes off and brings back the chorus loudly...

8 - "Only"

Sounds like a happy (which of course it isn't) jumpy new-wave thing with a bassline over a simple hopping beat again with blaring synths, pretty cool things in the song, don't know what to think of it yet but it sounds kinda aimless, Trent just talks his way through this song...
The "I just picked you up to hurt myself" part reminds me of Bowie somehow... Don't know why...

9 - "Getting Smaller"

I still think this could've been a great song for QOTSA, right up their ally, don't need this from NIN but it's a nice loud song nonetheless with a great chorus and pretty cool ending (my world is getting smaller everyday hey hey hey hey but that's OK)
Nice rock song...

10 - "Sunspots"

Weird but cool song, also kinda '80's sounding with Trent singing the chorus in a falsetto, again with blaring synth sounds and a loud, dry dragging chorus and bass...

11 - "The Line Begins To Blur"

Great song with a pounding drum and Trent shouting out the lyrics and a dreamy, floating synth filled chorus... Again sounds like a "The Fragile" leftover...

12 - "Beside You In Time"

Everyone who saw the Quicktime teaser from NIN.com, this is the song that was used in it and it is FUCKING AMAZING (this goes on and on and on and on and on...) At the 3 minute mark the bit starts that was used in the QT teaser movie with Trent singing over it in a distance, the song ends with a hiss (street sounds) that segues into the next song and remains there for a full minute, I love this stuff...

13 - "Right Where It Belongs"

Nice little sad, winddown song with Trent singing over a simple piano phrase and some synth stabs and the street sounds from the previous song...
At the 2:17 mark a bass line is added to it and builds from there with additional synths and crowd cheers... Great ending to a great little album...

***

All in all a great little album of NIN songs (most songs on it segue into the next one...) that'll be on constant rotation (especially "Every Day Is Exactly The Same) 'till the DVD-A arrives...

Neversin.
[Edited 4/15/05 8:44am]

yes, but is it good for nasty fucking?

Great, I can't wait.

Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to picking this up. I was happy to see that some of the songs are a bit 80's. I was hoping he might head in that direction.

One question. Would you describe this as an industrial album or just hard rock. I'm hoping it's hard rock!

dancerella said:

Neither... It's just toned down NIN noise...

Neversin.

PurpleKnight said:

No... But I think "The Fragile" along with "Pretty Hate Machine" and "Broken" are the best things NIN did...

Neversin.

"Only" is a really interesting track. Almost sounds like something Miss Kittin would do. They should work together.

Tom said:

BADASS song...

PurpleKnight said:

Don't get me wrong "The Downward Spiral" is an amazing album but it's got nothing on "Pretty Hate Machine" (it was the first new thing I got into when my obsessive Prince fandom started to wane back in the LoveSexy/Batman days, and well, since I was a kid back then everything "new" and "different" was welcomed...)

Neversin.