The Fragile. I love the organic feel of it. I think it's Trent's crowning achievement.

1. The Fragile: 23 songs, loads of instrumentals, marginally better than TDS.
2. The Downward Spiral: His best lyrics, the whole album works as a perfect tragic story.
3. Ghosts I-IV: 36 ambient tracks, this I feel is his most unique and enduring work.
4. With Teeth: It's a good album and I like most of the songs.
5. Year Zero: Same as WT but I prefer the overall sound of WT.
6. The Slip: I'd say this would've worked better as an EP. But hey it is free

Can't say with Pretty Hate Machine or Broken, don't have them.

Fragile and broken - so brutal

Seraphis posted:

1. The Fragile: 23 songs, loads of instrumentals, marginally better than TDS.
2. The Downward Spiral: His best lyrics, the whole album works as a perfect tragic story.
3. Ghosts I-IV: 36 ambient tracks, this I feel is his most unique and enduring work.
4. With Teeth: It's a good album and I like most of the songs.
5. Year Zero: Same as WT but I prefer the overall sound of WT.
6. The Slip: I'd say this would've worked better as an EP. But hey it is free

Can't say with Pretty Hate Machine or Broken, don't have them.

I would definitely recommend getting these two, esp PHM. It's hard to believe PHM is a debut album...there's none of that first-effort clumsiness or trying-too-hard-to-please amateur bravado, it still holds up as a genuine major talent. Some songs are still favourites of mine, esp Sin, but if you haven't listened in awhile (or have never heard) songs like Ringfinger, Kinda I Want To or That's What I Get...well, you just have to

Well, if I was going to present it to a harsh critique, I would surely present TDS. The theme and genre meshing is probably the most groundbreaking of our time. Its still important and echoes through such a vast range of ages. You have people who listen for the hooks, you have people that listen because they are chicks who want to rape Trent Reznor and you have people like me that listen for the hooks the theme and enjoy the NIN culture. In second I would say The Fragile. I do think that there is alot of filler on that album, but its fucking epic filler. See, when you look at TDS its a much shorter album. No filler, it flows.

The Fragile could have been cut down to about 10 songs. Doing that would have most likely earned the album more acclaim. The other songs that didnt "fit" could have been released with the fragile but as a seperate entity. Now, I love the Fragile as is. It was simply a marketing clusterfuck. Looking past that, its a fucking good album. Sure, the theme isnt as crazy as TDS, but it sounds great and follows a more "bottom of the hole" route rather than a "falling in" look. The sound is less harsh and more poppy but I like it as do many others. The Fragile gets a 9/10 from me and TDS gets a 10/10.

With Teeth is my least favourite album. It sounds like the Fragile with less production. Its good, but its a little to average for me (when comparing it to the other albums). I mean, there is some epic songs. It just doesnt stand up to The Fragile or TDS. 7/10.

The album "Year Zero" was solid. It had a really neat theme and good tracks. A return to vintage NIN with a sound of the new NIN plus something even newer. Good tracks, good theme. Only a few songs didnt quite do it for me, but the theme saved them and made the weaker tracks important to the story. Theme was NIN, and that album reminded us what theme can do for an album that sounds good enough without one. 8/10.
Ghosts, 9/10. Epic. The slip, 8/10. Solid.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2009 12:32PM by AdamRose.

The Downward Spiral > Broken > The Fragile > Pretty Hate Machine > Year Zero > With Teeth > The Slip

Now that doesn't mean The Slip is bad by any rate, it's just not as cohesive as, say, Broken. I've only heard the free portion of Ghosts so I consequently only have 1/4th of an opinion on it.

Strobe light

The Fragile > The Downward Spiral > With Teeth > Year Zero > The Slip > Broken > Pretty Hate Machine

The first two never change. They are both outstanding. The last five change up some times. Although, I feel like all the albums are great in their own way.

You should get PHM purely for Sin.

Pretty Hate Machine...dunno why...its just the best

Dead tie between TDS and The Fragile.

The Downward Spiral. Using music as a story-telling device, I believe this to be the best. It was groundbreaking at the time, and speaking from a production stand-point it's still one of the best sounding albums I've come across. The story, while absolutely venomous, bleak and nihilistic, is one of the most beautiful and well presented stories in concept albums (if that's what you'd consider this, I do). None of the songs are unwelcome on this album, they all fit with one another and there are no weak points from start to finish, each song is a masterpiece in-itself. There are other albums from NIN that I'll typically skip a couple tracks, or think that some songs sound weak. But TDS has no points like this for me. It's worth mentioning that this is my favorite album regardless of band, let alone NIN.

Not to lavish all the attention on TDS though, I'm not trying to put down the others as "weak albums" comparatively. The Fragile, although with some phe-fucking-nominal tracks, I always felt was a weaker attempt after TDS. There's some songs on there that I just can't get into, and the feeling of it overall is more disjointed and unfocused. Or perhaps the narrative just isn't so close to the surface as it is on TDS, which I prefer.

Year Zero would be next on my list, still thinking of them as story-telling pieces. As much as I love that album (and I do), like The Fragile I feel the narrative is sometimes a little buried, or just not as clear as TDS. Maybe I'm just not as adept at picking up on it, but for something that was supposed to have a clear story between oppressors/resistance/the presence, I could follow the idea through some songs, yet in others it just came across as another song on the album without adding anything to the story-line.

The Fragile, because its a huge, deep-meaning masterpiece.

Year Zero because its like he sat down with the Bible and wrote the album.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2009 12:53PM by phicry7220.

Broken