Nine Inch Nails
The Fragile
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Nine Inch Nails
The Fragile
Nothing, 1999
RiYL: Marilyn Manson, This Mortal Coil |
Admittedly I'm gonna need a little help with this computer stuff -- I have a degree in English for chrissakes. But this program will do all the work. All you have to do is come up with the song titles! You, Joe Nobody, comes up with -- let's say, "The Day The World Went Away" for a song title.
Just type the words into the computer and watch as it magically generates a new Nine Inch Nails song complete with overdone loud/soft dynamics, distorted guitars and silly lyrics about broken relationships and feeling really sad. Unfortunately I haven't been able to program the computer at anything past a high-school level creative writing course, but don't let that put a damper on the fun. I mean, how old do you have to be to write, "I am every fucking thing and just a little more / I sold my soul but don't you dare call me a whore?" Not very.
And though the program will write the lyrics for you, you do have the option of writing them yourself. Of course, the program does have a rhyming dictionary so you can find that elusive rhyme for "decay"--- "say," "day," "gray." Now there is one other little problem, though I could probably sort out some way to generate the vocals by sampling old NIN songs and recreating them through digital technology, so Trent would be singing your own lyrics (or should I say, your own computer-generated lyrics). I somehow think I might run into some pesky copyright laws.
So you, Joe Nobody, will have to sing the lyrics yourself. Now don't get too scared. Hell, maybe you aren't scared at all, maybe you have a really good voice. Well, it doesn't matter cause all you have to do is basically whine and scream and if you're anything like me you've been doing that since the day you were born and you'll be doing it until the day the world goes away, Ha! So have fun, get on MTV and always remember someday you too can be remembered for saying something as creative and memorable as, "I want to fuck you like an animal!"
OK, all right, so maybe I'm being a little mean. After all, I do think Trent Reznor is extremely talented. I think The Downward Spiral is one of the ten best albums of the '90s and I think he has a nice voice (when he chooses to use it). I also think he can write a great melody (when he chooses to do it). Unfortunately, the Trent that I like is scarcely on the new Nine Inch Nails record. There has been no progression since The Downward Spiral. In fact there has been some regression.
The lyrics, for one thing, have taken a serious nosedive. And while Trent was never Leonard Cohen, now he's not even Sam Sham and the Pharaohs. "there is a game i play / try so hard to make myself okay / try so hard to make all the pieces fit / smash it apart / just for the fuck of it" Come on! How juvenile can you get? So the lyrics aren't great -- well, I could look past that if the music was anything to rave about.
But it's not. Despite the fact that he claimed he was creating a "new" Nine Inch Nails, sound, he has essentially stuck to the same ole Downward Spiral sound. Which was great for The Downward Spiral but doesn't really work for The Fragile. It sounds like old hat. It sounds like he's going through the motions: soft verse/loud chorus. In short, it sounds like he was the first one to purchase the "Home Trent Reznor Kit."
"Into The Void" is the probably the best song on the album. If the whole album sounded like this, I would be happy. It has an interesting chord progression and melody and the lyrics are actually pretty good. The production is really good: I have no idea how he made some of these sounds.
Funny thing is, "Into The Void" has the exact same chord progression as "La Mer." Two of my favorite songs are essentially the same song. Well, I also think "The Great Below" is a good song, too. But guess what? The intro chord progression is a Cure song off of Seventeen Seconds and a Ministry song off of Twitch, and Trent is very familiar with both. This a double album that should just barely be a single disc. And the rest of the songs are flat out terrible.
This is probably the most disappointing album I have ever purchased. To be fair, perhaps my expectations were too high. At any rate, save your money and don't buy this album. You'll be doing Trent a big favor. Because someone needs to let him know that he's treading water and not very gracefully.
BRADLEY SMITH |