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Six years were needed for Trent Reznor to go through a long period of detoxification and finally return to the studio, at the beginning of last year, to follow up on "The Fragile", the last work signed by Nine Inch Nails. As the radio-friendly single "The Hand That Feeds" had already suggested, "With Teeth" is an album slightly less raw and angry compared to previous NIN works, benefiting from a sound, though still very refined, decidedly more “human”: The album reflects a turning point in my life, the message is more human: the computer is naturally there but this time instead of being the source, it’s a vehicle. Instead of playing the different parts and then inserting them into the structure, I started by playing the entire songs first, and then added the drums to have a different energy
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The first novelty indeed consists in having (partially) shelved the drum machine – omnipresent in previous albums – in favor of Dave Grohl's imaginative drum-playing, a special guest of the album, as well as Jeordie White (Marilyn Manson) on bass.
The basic formula, however, remains the same, namely that fusion of rock and electronics that has influenced entire generations of bands from the early nineties onwards. Thus, it transitions from the techno-metal of "You Know What You Are?" to the electro-grunge of "The Collector" and "Getting Smaller", from the noise distortions of "Love Is Not Enough" and "The Line Begins To Blur" to the ballads "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" and the poignant, enchanting, "Right Where It Belongs", the track that closes the album.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 You Know What You Are? (03:41)
I tried to sneak myself through tried to get to the other side
I tried to patch up the cracks and the holes that I have to hide
For a little bit of time even made it work okay
Just long enough to really make it hurt
When they figured me out and it all just rotted away
Don't you fucking know what you are?
Don't you fucking know what you are?
don't you fucking know what you are?
Go on get back to where you belong
You better take a good look cause I'm full of shit
With every bit of my heart I have tried to believe in it
You can dress it all up you can try to pretend
But you can't change anything
You can't change anything in the end
Don't you fucking know what you are?
Don't you fucking know what you are?
Don't you fucking know what you are?
Go on get back to where you belong
Don't you fucking know what you are?
Remember where you came from
Remember what you are
(9x)
Don't you fucking know what you are? (go on get back to where you belong)
Don't you fucking know what you are? (go on get back to where you belong)
Don't you fucking know what you are? (go on get back to where you belong)
Don't you fucking know what you are? (get back to where you belong)
03 The Collector (03:07)
I pick things up
I am a collector
And things, well things they tend to accumulate
I have this net
It drags behind me
It picks up feelings for me to feed upon
There are times, plenty of times I wish I could let it go
But they start to breathe
And they start to grow inside me
There are times, plenty of times I wish I could let it go
But they start to make me think
Things I don't wanna know
I'm trying to fit it all inside
I'm trying to open my mouth wide
I'm trying not to choke and
Swallow it all
Swallow it all
Swallow it all
Swallow it all
I am the plague
I am the swarm
All your hurt sticks on me and I keep it warm
They make me stay
They won't let me leave
There are so god damn many of them it gets hard to breathe
I'm trying to fit it all inside
I'm trying to open my mouth wide
I'm trying not to choke inside
I am a good boy and I will
Swallow it all
Swallow it all
Swallow it all
Swallow it all
Every last one (20x)
04 The Hand That Feeds (03:31)
You're keeping in step
In the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine
'Cause you do what you're told
But inside your heart it is black it is hollow and it's cold
Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you wanna change it?
What if this whole crusade's a charade
And behind it all there's a price to be paid
For the blood which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine
Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you wanna change it?
So naive
I keep holding on to what I wanna believe
I can see
But I keep holding on and on, and on, and on
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
07 With Teeth (05:37)
She comes along
She gets inside
She makes you better than, anything you've tried
It's in her kiss
Black as sea
And it runs deeper than you, dared to dream it could be
With teeth
With teeth
With teeth
With teeth
Wave good bye
To what you were
The rules have changed, the lines begin to blur
She makes you hard
It comes on strong
You finally found, the place where you belong
With teeth
With teeth
With teeth
With teeth
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
I cannot go through this again
With teeth
With teeth
With teeth
With teeth
She will not let you go
Keeps on and on
She will not let you go
Keeps on and on
This time I'm not coming back
She will not let you go
This time I'm not coming back
She will not let you go
09 Getting Smaller (03:35)
Getting a little erratic here
And I don't know who to trust
I guess they got a way of reading my mind
I guess I gotta adjust
Got my arms they flip flop flip flop flip
Got my head on a spring
Well I thought I got you on my side
I haven't got fucking anything
I'm just a face in the crowd
Nothing to worry about
Not even tryin' to stand out
I'm getting smaller and smaller and smaller
And I have nothing to say
It's all been taken away
I just behave and obey
I'm afraid I am starting to fade away
Uh-huh
I cannot see through the cracks
When I'm pressed up on the wall
I'm not looking to stand up real high
I'd be happy to crawl
I think I'm losing my grip
But I can still make a fist
You know I still got my one good arm
That I can beat...
nnn, I can beat myself up with!
I'm just a face in the crowd
Nothing to worry about
Not even tryin' to stand out
I'm getting smaller
And smaller and smaller
And I have nothing to say
Its all been taken away
I just behave and obey
I'm afraid I am starting to fade away
And for what it is worth
I really used to believe
That maybe there's some great thing
That we could achieve
And now I cant tell the difference
Don't know what to feel
Between what I've been trying to hard to see
And what appears to be real
Fading away
Fading away
Fading away
Fading away
My world is getting smaller everyday-yay-yay-yay-yay
My world is getting smaller everyday-yay-yay-yay-yay
(and thats ok)
My world is getting smaller everyday-yay-yay-yay-yay
My world is getting smaller everyday-yay-yay-yay-yay
(and thats ok)
10 Sunspots (04:03)
sunspots cast a glare in my eyes
sometimes i forget i'm alive
i feel it coming and i've gotta get out of it's way
i hear it calling and i come cuz can't disobey
i should not listen and i shouldn't believe but i do
yes i do
she turns me on
she makes it real
i have to apologize
for the way i feel
my life it seems has taken a turn
why in the name of god would i ever want to return
peel off our skin we're gonna burn what we were to the ground
fuck in the fire and we'll spread all the ashes around
i wanna kill away the rest of what's left
and i do
yes i do
she turns me on
she makes it real
i have to apologize
for the way i feel
and nothing can stop me now
there is nothing to fear
and everything that ever was
is inside of here
woah woah woah woah
inside us here
now i just stare into the sun
and i see everything i've done
i think i could have been someone
but i can't stop what has begun
when everything is said and done
and there is no place left to run
i think i used to be someone
now i just stare into the sun
11 The Line Begins to Blur (03:44)
There are things that I said I would never do
There are fears that I cannot believe have come true
For my soul is too sick and too little and too late
And myself, I have grown too weary to hate
The more I stay in here
The more it's not so clear
The more I stay in here
The more I disappear
As far as I have gone
I knew what side I'm on
But now I'm not so sure
The line begins to blur
Is there somebody on top of me?
I don't know, I don't know
Isn't anybody stopping me?
I don't know, I don't know
I won't try and hold my breath
I don't know, I don't know
Just how far down can I go?
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know
As I lay here and stare
The fabric starts to tear
It's far beyond repair
And I don't really care
As far as I have gone
I knew what side I'm on
But now I'm not so sure
The line begins to blur
13 Right Where It Belongs (05:07)
See the animal in his cage that you built,
Are you sure what side you're on?
Better not look him too closely in the eye,
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on?
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it's all, right where it belongs
What if everything around you,
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know,
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection,
Is that all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks,
Would you find yourself, find yourself afraid to see?
What if all the worlds inside of your head,
Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your Gods, all the living and the dead
And you really are alone?
You could live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can't find the woods
While you're hiding in the trees
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 at your reflection,
Is that all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks,
Would you find yourself, find yourself afraid to see?
14 Home (03:14)
Everything
Is catching up with me
I awake
To find i'm not at all where I
Should be
And it feels
I'm getting to the end
And it's hard
To figure out what's real
And what's
Pretend
To break from what
We're tied to
God knows
How much i've tried to
And I am still inside you
And I am still inside you
I escape
Every now and then
And to think
I find myself
Back here again
And again
I used to know who I was
Untill you came along
I return
To the only place
I've ever felt
That I belong
To break from what
We're tied to
God knows
How much i've tried to
And I am still inside you
And I am still inside you
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Other reviews
By josi_
Not with this "With Teeth," which ten years ago would have been a great album, but now is - in a word - useless.
There is one song, only one, that adds something to the crackling and anguished breath of the NIN world, and that is Right Where It Belongs.
By Undying
Great artists never meet public expectations. They follow instinct and talent, never resting on their laurels, and always challenging themselves.
Right Where It Belongs is a demonstration that the genius of an artist can manifest even (and especially) in simplicity.
By Brizz89
This album confirms how Reznor is musically a great composer, and how he has been able to sustain for over 15 years a genre he practically invented without ever veering off course.
Only is perhaps the most beautiful song on the album: a mix of electronics, NIN’s typical industrial, Prodigy’s techno-metal, and ’80s funk.
