I'm very bored right now so I decided to do this.
I'll put one album from each year and two honorable mentions.
I'll kick things off with one of
Trent Reznor's best works,
The Downward Spiral, now this may not be my favourite album of
Nine Inch Nails but it's not far behind
Pretty Hate Machine and
The Fragile in that regard but it is still a mighty fine album.
The album opens with the very cluttered song
Mr. Self Destruct it isn't a bad thing that there's so much happening in this track, if anything it adds power to the lyrics due to the confusion invoked by the instruments and synthesiser.
It then moves on to the comparatively minimalistic
Piggy which has a simple consistent bassline throughout with a nice simple drumbeat and synthesiser work as well as some very emotive vocal work from Trent which really helps get the message of the song across through the very obvious desperation in his voice.
Heresy is up next which is one of my personal favourite Nine Inch Nails tracks mostly due to the lyrics and outstanding synthesiser work put into the track with some heavily distorted guitarwork thrown in for good measure, the abrupt stop at the end also adds power to the track.
The frantic
March Of The Pigs is up next the song really gives the impression of an incoming threat through the drumbeat which continues to speed up throughout as well as more heavily distorted guitars but I must say my favourite part of the whole song is when everything abruptly stops and Trent sings cleanly with some soft piano and it then picks up straight away from out of no where.
Now its time for the bands most popular and often misunderstood song
Closer which many interpret as a song about violent rape on the surface but if you look past that is actually talking about all the issues that sex can create within someone mentally and physically, it can also just be seen as a song about addiction or lust or even as a semi-romantic love song. The song does have a very funky synthesiser line throughout the whole thing which really drives the song home.
Ruiner is the first forgettable song on this album for me, I don't know what it is but there's no real hook to this song for me it is a great track, don't get me wrong but it just isn't as good as the rest of the album but if it was on another album or by a different artist I'm sure I would be singing its praises but this is
Nine Inch Nails here. I lie actually the solo of this song is possibly one of the best Trent has done but that doesn't make up for the rest of the song unfortunately.
I really enjoy this next track,
The Becoming again mostly due to the franticness of it and the sound clips played throughout which sound like children's screams, I know that sounds morbid but it really gives the song that something else as well as the outstanding bassline in the song which seems to be present in most
Nine Inch Nails tracks as well as the clean breakdown halfway through which then leads into a signature NIN breakdown.
Now there's a slightly upbeat Nine Inch Nails song in
I Do Not Want This, now when I say upbeat I mean by Nine Inch nails standards so if any other band did this song it'd be incredibly depressing. It's essentially about teenage angst.
Big Man With A Gun is another track which is easily forgotten, it's just a signature NIN track with no real hook to it but it is still a superb song.
A Warm Place is a nice relaxing ambient song which leads wonderfully into
Eraser.
Eraser takes a while to get going but the build up is all worth it as the songs suddenly explodes into a sea of heavily distorted guitars, bass drums and synthesisers.
Reptile teases the listener with a large build up but no payout, this isn't a bad thing as it keeps your anticipation up for the whole track and even makes you feel happy there was no large breakdown in the song as it would have ruined the amazing atmosphere built up by it and the title track...
The Downward Spiral is another beautiful instrumental track on this outstanding albums, the segway from
Reptile really makes you appreciate it even more, it slowly builds up from a slow calm song to a frantic mess which actually makes me worry, there is faint screaming in it near the end really bringing out the pain as well as muffled voices.
Now for the final track of the album, the song covered by the legendary
Johnny Cash, the original version of
Hurt. Now I have nothing but the utmost respect for Cash but this is the best version of the song in my eyes, it just seems so much more desperate than the Cash version where he had already lost everything whereas the
Nine Inch Nails version there is still a fight to be had but the protagonist is losing that fight and in the end gives the impression that he does lose which just adds a much larger punch to the song and is a very emotional song to end this very emotional album on. It is also one of the only clean
Nine Inch Nails songs which fits it very well especially using the old acoustic guitar on it as if it had the regular
Nine Inch Nails treatment I don't think it would be as powerful. It does go into the regular NIN formula near the end but it fits after the very emotional build up of the rest of the song and the way it just fades out at the end is absolutely marvelous. It just leaves you saying wow. In summary, great closing track, great album, great band.
Honourable mentions:
Weezer -
Weezer
Awake -
Dream Theater
Weezer
