Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has often been labeled as a pioneer of the industrial music genre, despite the fact that elitists of the genre claim that Nine Inch Nails never had anything musically in common with true industrial; rather, they are hard rock fused with electronic elements. They have also been called industrial rock, industrial metal, pop rock, gothic, and synthpop.
Regardless of where you think the music of Nine Inch Nails should be categorized, the fact remains that the quality of Nine Inch Nails music as a whole has increasingly declined. When Trent Reznor burst onto the scene in 1989 with his Nine Inch Nails debut album Pretty Hate Machine, there was no doubt that he had created something worthy of praise.
The songs of Pretty Hate Machine were full of raw emotion and powerful lyrics, coupled with gritty instrumentation. Nine Inch Nails had created an album accessible to many, with many subtle layers of sound that appeased fans of heavy music, electronic music, pop rock and gothic music. Nine Inch Nails had succeeded in creating a musical fusion of many genres and incorporated the elements of all into something new, not easily classified by any one single genre.
Shortly thereafter, Nine Inch Nails released the Broken EP, a hard-hitting album still drenched in lyrical anger and heavier instrumentation. Powerful emotions crippled the senses, made your ears bleed, and turned your throat raw while you sang/screamed along.
The follow-up to Broken was The Downward Spiral, probably Trent Reznor’s masterpiece and unfortunately the last decent Nine Inch Nails album worth buying. The Downward Spiral had everything once again, as they did earlier with pretty hate machine, but stripped of eighties pop element and infused with musical savagery, the songs ranged from shouting anthems of hate and rebellion, to tearful lamentations of mournful solemnity, and everything in-between.
Except for a few remixes and singles, it would be a long time before another Nine Inch Nails album was to be released, and despite the frustration of impatient fans, perhaps if Trent Reznor had either a) produced an album quicker, or b) spent another year or two working on it, we would not have seen the disappointing double-album The Fragile. While the Fragile contained a few standout songs, it was obvious from the first few moments of the very first song that the long reign of Nine Inch Nails had begun to fall.
To start with, many years had passed, and Trent Reznor’s voice was no longer what it was. It still possessed a certain sultry edge, but there were undertones that had grown harsh, especially noticeable on many tracks where he screamed the lyrics rather than sang, which also caused the ruination of what could have otherwise been better tracks.
The vibrant intensity found in earlier albums had faded as well. Where once you could feel rippling waves of emotion, now it was reduced to only a mild shudder. Trent Reznor should have concentrated on a single Nine Inch Nails album rather than a double, putting extra effort into the better tracks and making them at least on par, if not better than earlier works.
Nine Inch Nails sunk several rungs lower on the ladder with the release of With Teeth. Gone was the raw emotion. Gone were the innovative lyrics that first helped establish the popularity of Nine Inch Nails. Gone was any semblance of originality. Nine Inch Nails had delivered an album comprised of ho-hum tracks that catered to the lowest common denominator of heavy mainstream rock, with the only decent song on the album ironically titled “Only”. The rest were throwaways, a few selected as singles to be overplayed on radio stations, and force fed to new fans who had yet to be exposed to earlier works by Nine Inch Nails and therefore didn’t know any better.
But those of us who were around during the days of Pretty Hate Machine and beyond knew all too well that this was by far the worst of Nine Inch Nails. However, it is with sad dismay that I previewed a few tracks from the new album Year Zero, and found that Nine Inch Nails has apparently crossed far beyond the threshold of pale shadows of former selves; in fact, if there is any remaining talent, it has been rendered invisible and cast aside, for it certainly doesn’t show up in anything I’ve heard thus far.
Minimal instrumentation seemingly attempts to revive a poppier feel with an experimental hard edge, and winds up being glitchy and stuttered. The vocals are strained and the lyrics are a bit shameful when compared to what Trent Reznor has produced in the past.
Despite all this, Nine Inch Nails will likely continue to gather fans who fervently object to any criticism of the band, if only because worshipping Nine Inch Nails has always been a hobby of disenchanted youth. At least in the past, the inventive music was worth praising. Now, its only worth about $4.98 in the bargain bin.
If you want to hear Year Zero for yourself, visit here for information, sound samples, and other Nine Inch Nails products and multimedia.
