The Official review of NIN [With_Teeth] thread

[McLilith]

...album that just grows on you...<- Fanboy

So then, it's like a skin disease?

I tried to listen to the online album, but I just didn't have the stamina for it. I found myself skipping forward through the album quite a bit. Maybe I was just in a hurry that day. I'll try it again later, but I'm not very impressed so far.

From my very brief initial listen, I thought the new album seemed to lack a soul.


take care,
McLilith

[_oswald]

this is weird. i figured there were more nin fans on kvr than this.

Heh. Months ago I mentioned Trent pimping OhmForce plugins in a thread (...that went to pot pretty damn fast) and found out that NIN fans are in the minority here on KVR.

...and as such, we aught to get special treatment. Lower KVR taxes mayhap?

[deggy]

[quote="McLilith
I tried to listen to the online album, but I just didn't have the stamina for it. I found myself skipping forward through the album quite a bit. Maybe I was just in a hurry that day. I'll try it again later, but I'm not very impressed so far.
[/quote]

in it's defense, you really have to listen to it on cd/High resolution. One of the things about nin's music is that the songs aren't the best but the production is often kinda interesting. I also thought it sounded pretty boring when i checked it out on that site. When i bought it, it sounded a lot better (still not great but better).

[vurt]

check out the guy supportin him in brixton,saul williams i think his name is
heard some stuff tonight hes damn good live

[McLilith]

I happen to really like the radio-friendly NIN material from a few years ago. "Head Like a Hole" and "Closer" are my two favorite NIN songs.

I'll have to admit that I've never listened to any of the older albums in their entirety. I've only heard the singles (and a few extended remixes of those singles.)

Ironically, the "radio-friendly" material is what most people here at KVR seem to hate the most.

I feel like a minority, inside the minority.



McLilith

[vurt]

downward spiral still prickles the hairs on my neck
but hell never beat pretty hate machine

[fedexnman]

u know the songs done on the fragile, sounded better on all that could ve been... be interesting to hear live... i agree with vurt .. pretty hate machine........ im lovin it.. like a big mac at mc dsssss

[lsd]

I don't understand why topics on this site always stray. I think the album is solid. Trent is an artist and I respect what he does. Production is always "cutting edge" as well as his aproach to writing songs with "mainstream appeal" (which unfortinatley is neccissary), while retaining his own unique "sound" and integreity. Don't take this the wrong way but.... I'd like to hear you do better, lol. So deal!

[dusted william]

I never liked pretty hate machine that much, but to me the downward spiral is so f**king good.

dw

[Amberience]

Halo Seventeen is my favourite - the one with a live set, and then a really f**king excellent 2nd CD.

[fedexnman]

i have been jammin - with teeth= on my car stereo, gotta admit love that 1st song, those beats remind me of aphex twin s stuff, but i dont like the whole album, i hoped maybe it d grow on me but no cigar...

[Lawnmower Of The Damned]

I'm not sure the claims of "radio friendly" are very fair. With "Only" being listed as the next single, I can't help but wonder if Trent is actually trying to commit commercial suicide. It's a great song with intensely personal lyrics, but it's also electronic disco funk. I don't really see electronic disco funk flying to the top of the charts, regardless of how good the song is.

There's no question that some of the songs are catchy, but I don't really think that's a bad thing. Nor is the album overly rock-ish. There's barely any guitar on the entire album. Compared to The Fragile, which Trent himself called a "guitar album".

I think the new album is very good. The lyrics here are much more personal than they were on The Fragile. For instance, "Only" seems to be Trent reclaiming himself from his stage persona.

It seems like he used to be jealous of his own rockstar image. Millions of people know and love "Rockstar Trent", but no one gives a shit about Michael Reznor from small town America. He's sort of saying there is no Trent Reznor, there is only me.

Right Where It Belongs has very powerful symbollism unlike anything I've ever heard in a Nine Inch Nails song.

The listener follows Trent through a journey of sorts. Near the end he walks onto a stage and his adoring fans begin to cheer as Trent sings:

"What if everything around you,
Isn't quite as it seems,
What if all the world you used to know,
Is an elaborate dream,
And if you look in the mirror,
Is that all you want it to be?"

And as he finishes the crowd vanishes. We are left with Trent all alone in an empty room with his piano. This seems to be symbollic of both his beginnings and where he believes he will end. All alone, playing an old, dusty piano.

Not only are the lyrics quite beautiful, but really surprisingly deep for Nine Inch Nails. For the man most famous for penning the line, "I want to f**k you like an animal", this really is a very emotionally intense song.

You guys are welcome to hate this album if you like, but I really like how honest the lyrics seem. From the addiction of "With Teeth" to the sollitude of "Right Where It Belongs" I really think this was an album that needed to be made. If this album came out any other way then I think it would have been dishonest.

Yes, he has probably alienated a lot of his old fans with this album. It's still a great album either way.

[deggy]

I'm not sure the claims of "radio friendly" are very fair. With "Only" being listed as the next single, I can't help but wonder if Trent is actually trying to commit commercial suicide.

Here in Canada, there were 2 or 3 songs with that exact same drum beat in the top 200 over the past year (like that k-os track). And then there's also that massive punk-disco thing that's actually starting to get a little annoying. Think Fugazi with an Abba/Peaches & Herb drum beat. I just don't think "only" is that good a song and that's why it won't really go anywhere.

By the way, has anyone heard that mash-up with Hand that Feeds (and the Ghostbusters theme song by Ray Parker Jr.). You gotta hear it. How did they do that? Did they use the Garage Band File that was posted on the nin.com site?

[deggy]

Just got back from the NIN concert. Saw them 2 days in a row. Holy ****, they rocked it hard. The best I've ever seen them. The new band is now so much better than the Fragile days. The keys player on the Fragile tour was awful. At least this guy could actually play a keyboard. The new guy's patches sound great too. The band was way tighter than any other time I've seen ever them. The new guitarist was insane. He had some great solos and I like his interpretations of some of the old synth parts. The sound was excellent. The only downside was that Twiggy made a few barely noticeable fukups and when he is playing, he doesn't really play that much. Half the time, the keyboard player was doing the bass parts on the synth. The crowd tonight was soo much more into it than the night before. Tonight, they opened with the Frail and as soon as the wretched started, the whole place went insane. Everyone was singing all the words and jumping around (even in the back). Trent even did a stage dive in Piggy. Insane. However, the night before had a better setlist with more old stuff and a few of the newer tracks as well. Tonight’s set was mostly stuff from The Fragile but it sounded better this time around (obviously because of the new band). Also, they played Burn (which is an awesome track that got the crowd goin nuts) but they played the last heavy part in compound time to give it a sort or gabba/beautiful people feel. Closer kicked ass as well. They threw in a section from “Get Down Make Love” at the end which got everyone going crazy. I would have to say that the [With_Teeth] stuff sounds way better live than it does on the CD (oddly enough). Hand that feeds, Don’t You Know What You Are, Home, and the all of the other new tracks that they played (can’t remember off hand what they were) sounded incredible. They new synth player/synth patches really do make the show so much better than the Fragile tour live stuff. “Something I can Never Have” was cool but I think the synth player was off in “pads-with-slow-release-time” lala land and it got a little muddy. Oddly enough, it still sounded kinda cool though. The patches were so cool to listen to that it made up for the “harmonic ambiguity” (normally, I’m all about the “harmonic ambiguity” so it’s all good). Yeah, I could go on and on but I just have to say, if nin are coming to your town twice, do yourself a favor and catch both shows. The set is always changing. Tonight, the set just really connected with the crowd. Last night, they played more “hits” but the crowd wasn’t as into it. But I have to say that they are super tight (for the most part, i.e. everyone except the bass player). Definitely worth seeing.

[toine6]

Don't go ripping on Charlie Clouser (former NIN keyboard player) now. No. He's no great talented keyboard player, but he's a very intelligent fellow, and can remix like no one's business. Besides when was the last time you saw a keyboardist whip out a theremin, add fx and play it during a blasting, sonic assault?

My opinion seems to differ with about 90% of the comments made thusfar. I personally think that most people just don't "get it". I think it takes a lot of effort, deep thought, concentration and analysis to really understand what Reznor's music is all about. If that's not how you like to listen to music, that's okay, you might not like it too much then. I don't have a problem with people giving their initial reactions, but don't care much for the "my opinion is extemely well thought out and absolutely correct" sort of attitude, after a couple of half-baked listens. Besides, music is subjective after all.

Reznor's lyrics are incredible and genius. Go ahead and rip apart the music from a musician's perspective. Fine. But if you listen more closely, without thinking and categorizing as if you're some mostly worthless Rolling Stones reviewer, then I think you'll find there's a lot more soul, genius, and personal sharing in there than you would have ever guessed. Ask yourself, in what context was Reznor using the phrase "I want to f**k you like an animal", there's a lot more depth to it than the one surface line everyone notices, while missing the whole point of the song. Nirvana's points out this sort of thing with lyrics like "There the one's and they like to sing along, and they like to shoot their gun, but they don't know what it means, don't know what it means".

Personally I don't really care if you love it or hate it, it works for me and I find it extremely worth while. But let's cool it with this worthless yelling like we're bashing each others football team, sometimes all I see when reading people's opinions on the matter is something like "Raiders suck! Raiders suck! YEAH Raiders Suck!!!" I mean who cares.

IMO the new album is great. I don't really like the radio friendly songs as much as the others (btw Reznor didn't pick which songs were to play on the radio, the label did), but in the context of the whole album they're pretty decent. He does some experimenting too, "Beside You In Time" is trippy and different. What do you care if the vocals are slightly out of tune (are they that much?), punk was cool, no one could really sing, sound quality was shit, notes were hit and miss, volume, distortion and everything else involved was pretty haphazard at times and still it was pretty cool. Naw it wasn't perfect, but you could enjoy it if you gave it a chance. (Okay I admit I actually don't like punk that much, but I at least respect it to a degree and won't go bashing all over it)