Nine Inch Nails – ‘The Slip’
Posted in Album Reviews on August 26, 2008
It’s difficult to criticise that for which you pay nothing. While there’s a sort of divine consumer wrath in putting the boot into that which you’ve paid for, there’s something inherently base and petty about scrutinizing something you’re given.
It’s like having a go at your mother for giving you an ugly knitted jersey for Christmas. Which is why I am pleased to proclaim that very little in the way of criticism can be laid at the door of Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails’ latest release.
Two things should occur to you when listening to The Slip, firstly that this is a very polished effort and secondly that it’s very old school. The Slip feels very much like a reappraisal of Reznor’s Downward Spiral years. Gone is the new fangled electronica fused synth wizardry of Year Zero and back is the ugly orchestra of mosquito buzz distortion, jack hammer drums, bass drones and white noise, counterweighted as usual by beautiful melancholic pianos and Trent Reznor’s restrained vocal style.
As in The Downward Spiral the album’s sound hinges very much on the juxtaposition of the mechanical with the humanistic and for the most part it clangs and wails in all the right places. A song which springs to mind is the infectious Discipline which features a catchy guitar lick that sounds like a chainsaw and will probably sit at the back of my mind driving me insane for the next couple of days. Other strong tracks include the driving Letting You and the psychedelic Echoplex.
However The Slip does have a few hang ups. The problem with doing a back to basics album is that things tend to smack of déjà vu, and The Slip unfortunately invokes a feeling of ‘been there done that’. It doesn’t help either that the album drags quite a bit in the second half with instrumentals that border a little too much on the wanky side of things. Minor flaws aside however, The Slip is a solid album, with more than a few good tracks but I doubt its going to exactly shake the firmament, even for a die hard NIN fan.
7/10
By Lloyd Markham
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