Nine
Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral (Compact Disc version)
Sound: B+
Music: A
The slow but abrupt sounds of gunshots start out the epic
album known as The Downward Spiral.
Appropriately, the album ends with an eerie echo sounding the end of one
of the band’s most classic songs “Hurt”. What was the beginning of a revolution started with this
album. Upon hearing the band’s album “Broken”,
it was obvious that the band’s leader, Trent Reznor, was taking the overall
“sound” of the band into a new direction - edgier, more industrial, and more
apparently gothic direction than was able to be seen in Pretty Hate
Machine. This album is exactly that –
an album – a list of fourteen songs that weave a thick tale about sex, lies,
religion, reptiles, and broken hearts.
Best when listened to from start to finish.
The thing about Nine Inch Nails is that they have such an
original sound that it’s impossible to outmatch them. Reznor is obviously a highly influential industrial metal
musician not in turn of both his powerful lyrics and absorbing beats and
tones. In short, if you’re having a
horrible day and it’s powdering down the rain outside, it’s best to throw in
this album. Your aggression will turn
into determination. And that little
demon inside of you hopefully will crawl away and get lost somewhere further
down the spiral.
Two of band’s most listened to songs are on this album – “Hurt”
and “Closer” – which serve almost as markers for the points where the
lyrics carve an image of a powerful man (Closer) and a much weaker man (Hurt). “Hey, Piggy” is a great little tune
that dances an image in my head an almost Reservoir Dogs-esque vision of
a dark man with a knife, some scotch tape, and a tied up cop in a corner
somewhere chanting the lyrics “Nothing Can Stop Me Now.” “I Do Not Want This”, “Big Man
With a Gun”, “Hersy”, “Ruiner”, and “The Becoming” and
relentlessly loud and beautiful tracks address the band’s issues with the
useless people and things that live under the armpit of society.
What I really enjoy about this album and the body of Trent
Reznor’s work is his use of beautiful instrumentals that serve as preludes to
the next song. My favorite on this
album is Eraser, a deep and creepy melody and obviously The Downward
Spiral, which I think is one of the most powerful tracks I’ve ever
heard. And “A Warm Place” is
legend to be from the perspective of a baby inside her mother’s womb. The music is honest, graphic about mortality
and
The PCM 2.0 16Bit/44.1kHz Stereo is very good for the CD
format and those who settle for that format will not be disappointed. There are multiple releases of this album
however, including a Deluxe Edition Super Audio CD set that has a hybrid audio
track layer feature, including these CD tracks. The 5.1 DSD (Direct Stream Digital) and even 2.0 Stereo DSD
tracks from the Deluxe Edition are even more impressive than the CD
tracks. It also has an extra disc with
remixes, B-Sides, and non-album tracks.
There is also a dual disc available that has the album remixed in 5.1
Surround Sound in the DVD-Audio’s MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing) format. This is also better than the CD mix, though
not quite as smooth as the DSD on the SACD set. The 5.1 on the SACD is one of the best mixes in the market.
The DVD-Video side of the Dual Disc includes the Music
Videos for “Closer”, “Hurt” and “March Of The Pigs”, with
“Closer” offered in 5.1 as well as the 2.0 Stereo of the other two
clips. There is also a complete
discography and image gallery, but not much more. “Closer” is also on The Films Of Mark Romanek DVD
reviewed elsewhere on this site, which we strongly recommend.
I love Nine Inch Nails – whether I’m walking to work,
visualizing for a screenplay, or just to throw on when everything else seems
boring. This album I highly suggest to
anyone who is a fan of industrial or metal music and has a good eye for the
bizarre and unnatural. The Downward
Spiral is a classic that just gets better with age.
- Jamie Lockhart
