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Rating: The Nine Inch Nails, at least in the early phase of their career, never got us so used to such goodness. From 1988 (year of their founding by the charismatic leader Trent Reznor) to 2005, indeed, there are only four studio releases (plus the EP "Broken"); from 2005, the year of the controversial "With Teeth", to today, the albums released are another four (in just three years).
The latest studio effort by the American band, this "The Slip," has been released (for now) exclusively (and for free) through their official website; the physical release is expected around next July. The musicians involved in the project come from various backgrounds, among them the very Italian and faithful keyboardist Alessandro Contini, drummer Josh Freese, and guitarist Robin Finck (Guns N' Roses). At the controls are the in-demand Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder (the latter has a frightening resume, ranging from The Cure to Smashing Pumpkins, passing through Moby and My Bloody Valentine).
Let's say it right away; Reznor is in good form, both artistically and "productively", and you can feel it right from the sonic onslaughts of "1,000,000" (preceded by an instrumental intro, "999,999", which could well have been included in the last, overflowing "Ghosts I-IV").
After this positive beginning, the album rolls along smoothly, moving from the first single "Discipline", which seems influenced by certain less "corny" '90s dance music, to the very noisy and massive "Head Down". Absolutely unmissable is the dark "Corona Radiata" where Reznor seems to pour out all his anxieties, between a ghostly piano and a menacing electronic background, which also dominates in the following "The Four Of Us Are Dying". "Echoplex", already offered as a download prior to the album's release, is perhaps too similar to the old NIN productions, lacking somewhat in "personality". "Letting You" is the most frenetic and "acidic" of the bunch, contrasting with the sadness of "Lights In The Sky" (for piano and voice). "Demon Seed", on the other hand, closes the work by speeding up again.
Perhaps it's an album that doesn't excessively shake the listener, as often happens with Reznor's productions, but that sense of claustrophobia and inadequacy that you often feel listening to NIN's records is still well present on more than one occasion in the grooves of this new work. Ultimately, that annoying plastic taste present at times in "With Teeth" doesn't resurface (for example, almost radio-like episodes - ! - such as "The Hand That Feeds").
"The Slip" is a good piece of work, obviously not on the level of "The Downward Spiral" or "The Fragile," but it nevertheless confirms (as if there were still a need for it) the talent of Mr. Reznor and settles on more than respectable levels.
All this good stuff is welcome, then.
Key tracks: "1,000,000", "Head Down", "Corona Radiata"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 1,000,000 (03:56)
kind of hard
hard to see
when you crawl
on your hands and your knees
with your face
in the trough
wait your turn
while they finish you off
don't know when it started
don't know how
should have found out
should have happened by now
got these lines
on my face
after all this time
and i still haven't found my place
i jump from every rooftop
so high so far to fall
i feel a million miles away
i don't feel any thing at all
i wake up
on the floor
start it up again
like it matters anymore
i don't know
if it does
is this really all
that there ever was?
put the gun
in my mouth
close your eyes
blow my fucking brains out
pretty patterns
on the floor
that's enough for you
but i still need more
i jump from every rooftop
so high so far to fall
i feel a million miles away
i don't feel any thing at all
03 Letting You (03:49)
The sky is painted black
The smoke pours out the stack
One hand upon your heart
One hand behind your back
You train us how to act
You keep the fear intact
The imminent attack
Everything is right on track
And we are letting you get away
We are letting you get away with it
Upon our plates to feed
The dying left to bleed
How much we really need
Your politics of greed
The cancer takes ahold
The wolf is in the fold
Our destiny's been sold
We do just what we're told
And we are letting you get away
We are letting you get away with it
Your armies filled with hate
Believing your charade
Begin to suffocate
For us it's far too late
And we are letting you get away
We are letting you get away with it
04 Discipline (04:19)
Am I - Am I still tough enough?
Feels like I'm wearing down, down, down, down, down
Is my viciousness,
Losing ground, ground, ground, ground, ground?
Am I taking too much?
Did I cross the line, line, line?
I need my role in this
Very clearly defined
(Chorus)
I need your discipline,
I need your help
I need your discipline,
You know once I start I cannot help myself
And now it's starting up,
Feels like I'm losing touch
Nothing matters to me,
Nothing matters as much
I see you left a mark,
Up and down my skin, skin, skin
I don't know where I end,
And where you begin
(Chorus1)
I can not stop myself.
Once I start I can not stop myself.
(x7)And you knew,
That once I start I can not stop myself.
(Chorus2)
I need your discipline,
I need your help.
I need your discipline
Because once I start I cannot stop myself.
05 Echoplex (04:45)
Nice and high and far apart
Just like they said
I built this place with broken parts
Just like they said
You chip away the old version of you
You'd be surprised at what you can do
I'm safe in here
Irrelevant
Just like they said
My voice just echoes off these walls
My voice just echoes off these walls
You feel me breathe
I am watching you
I see it all
The many ways you can't get to me
I see them all
I see the hell you put yourself through
All the things I could do if I wanted to
My voice just echoes off these walls
My voice just echoes off these walls
I don't need anything at all
My voice just echoes off these walls
(whispered)(lalalalalalalalalalalalalalala (3x)
lalalalalalala)
And I just slowly fade away x3
(Fade) x6
You will never ever, ever, ever get to me in here x3
You will never ever, ever, ever get to me
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Other reviews
By CannibalKid
"The NIN sound is always recognizable yet more direct than ever, truly millions of miles away from the past."
"With 'Head Down' it’s love at first listen, Trent’s words are my words, his voice is my voice, his face is my face."
By beso
My answer is NO! Trent Reznor is not finished or sold out.
The Slip is, in my opinion, the sum of the previous albums from the 2000s.
By alCOOL
But where the hell were you when you produced it, in the gym lifting 120kg of weights?!! Extremely pompous music and nonexistent lyrics at worst and repetitions of already heard and re-heard motifs at best!!!
You might ask: 'Where's the review of The Slip?' It is exactly this. NOTHING.
