Nine Inch Nails
With Teeth

THE REVIEW

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.

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.