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The Slip

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip Audio CD

A fair review of the Nine Inch Nails "The Slip" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Nine Inch Nails reviews here, or go back to the Nine Inch Nails tabs.

Band: Nine Inch Nails
Title: The Slip
Rating:

Release Date: 2008-07-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: 999, 999 2: 1,000, 000 3: Letting You 4: Discipline 5: Echoplex 6: Head Down 7: Lights in the Sky 8: Corona Radiata 9: Four of Us Are Dying 10: Demon Seed

A good end to a great stretch
The albums preceding it were much longer and relied more upon lyrical narrative and complex musical structure. As the last album in a striking creative streak, it's inevitably for the Slip to get some flak. Year Zero told a story much like the Downward Spiral Had, With Teeth attempted to be usual NIN fare, while Ghosts was in a league of its own. All in all, With Teeth, Year Zero, and Ghosts represented almost FIVE hours of music total, all released in the span of a couple years. So, it's no wonder that the Slip may seem paltry in comparison- it's stripped-down garage rock sound certainly doesn't help either.

However, after multiple listens, the Slip has started to sound superior to Year Zero and With Teeth for me (Ghosts isn't even worth comparing, it's an entirely different animal), and is even becoming one of my favorite NIN albums. Reznor tries new things in the Slip, and at the same time it harkens back to Broken-era NIN, if only for its lack of restraint. From the opening tracks thru Lights in the Sky, the album is almost entirely straight-up rock and roll dissonance. The first track "999,999" serves as a tense lead up to
"1,000,000" which charges forwards with aggressive, fast-paced electronics accompanied by live drums (either that or live-sounding drum samples). Reznor's voice even sounds upbeat in an Iggy Pop sort of way, which contrasts nicely with his usual red-hot lyrical angst. These "rock" tracks may not have the complexity or depth NIN has displayed in the past, but it's undeniable that they are well-written, catchy, and energetic. The album's second phase starts with "Lights in the Sky," one of the most beautiful piano pieces the man has ever written. "Corona Radiata" and "The Four of us are Dying" are both adventurous ambient pieces that lack the emotional heaviness that previous NIN instrumentals have been caked in. They fit well with the rest of the album despite their stylistic differences, largely because they sound more exotic than moody. Finally, the album caps off with one final rocker, "Demon Seed. "

The Slip is uniquely digestible for a NIN album, and probably deserves praise based on that alone. Along with its fun, NIN-lite style, it also lacks the excesses and hiccups detectable on Year Zero and With Teeth. Overall, it is remarkably good for a free album, much like Radiohead's "In Rainbows. " More importantly, it's an album that lives up to NIN's long and varied creative legacy.

Two Disc NIN: CD/DVD
Also contained is, the rehearsal sessions of the some of the songs shot in HD, I believe, which makes for good viewing. In the package, is the record, THE SLIP, on CD, which plays well and is interesting to listen to.

Slipping into extinction
It isn't that I want to hear The Downward Spiral 5 times over. While I did enjoy NIN's earlier material, his new stuff just doesn't do it for me. It is the simple fact that his music just isn't good anymore. I have enjoyed seeing them live a few times and they are still an excellent band as far as a live show is concerned. Trent has seemed to have lost that spark of angst and cynicism that made albums like The Fragile, and Broken so addictive and visceral. I may be being a bit too harsh but,I have listened to NIN since Pretty Hate Machine and I think as a long time fan I deserve to voice my own opinion. If you like music with heavy loud guitars and great choruses then go pick up the new CKY (Carver City). It is excellent.

It's free, but I still haven't burned it
Everyone knows the story how Trent Reznor released this free basically out of nowhere. Nine Inch Nails have been on a roll since 2005, releasing technically 4 (!) albums (although one of them's arguably an EP, Ghosts, that is), although they're on a farewell tour now. Of course I downloaded it as I soon as I found out, which was the day after it came out. All the critics jumped to praising this album, but if it wasn't free, do you really think they'd have the same opinion? I doubt it.

Apparantely this whole album was done from scratch in about a month or two. That includes writing, recording and mixes. And it really shows. You shouldn't rush a record like this. The songs themselves don't stand out at all. Of course there's all the industrial noises and textures you'd expect, but the hooks aren't there. I wouldn't put any of these on a best of compilation. It starts with a forgettable intro track, then has 5 traditional, so to speak, songs with the aforementioned elements, a raw stripped down piano ballad that's not very good. After that you get a track 7 and a half minutes long of nothing but a single sound getting a little louder, until towards the end drums come in. This is what you'd find on Ghosts and really slows the momentum. Another by the numbers instrumental follows and it ends with another traditional song. I'd say the best song is "Echoplex". Another thing I have to point out is what bothers me when I listen to 21th century NIN. It's Trent Reznor's voice. I know he can't do anything about it, as people naturally get older, but his vocals just sound very ugly and unpleasant.

This is the weakest NIN studio album yet. You can still as of June 2009 go download it for free, weather it's MP3 quality or even FLAC. As for physical copies, there were only 250,000 made. Whether they're sold out, I don't know. I've listened many times, looking for reasons to make a physical copy, but still haven't found any.

NIN's weakest album
com. Like probably most fans I downloaded the album for free from nin. Didn't really think too much about it as there weren't very many stand out songs on this album. But after my friend and I went to see NIN open for Jane's Addiction here in Austin and the fact that the dvd was limited to 250,000 copies I decided to cave in and buy it. These songs sound to generic and don't really go anywhere so they really don't have the NIN charm. Some of these songs in my opinion sound too noisy and some just plain boring. I have heard this album was written and recorded in 3 weeks and it really shows. The album sounds unfocused and rushed where as his other albums Trent really took his time trying to perfect his work. The only song I really like on here is 1,000,000 but even that one is not up to NIN standars. After the masterpiece that was Year Zero I really didn't think Trent could top himself again. I was even surprised when Year Zero was so great when I didn't think he had it in him to top his first 3 albums Pretty Hate Machine, Broken, and The Downward Spiral. This cd is really only worth owning for the dvd which contains rehearsal footage of them playing 5 songs on this album. The dvd is pretty cool but it's nothing I will watch very much since 1,000,000 is the only song I really like. The show we saw I thought was good until he played stuff from this which I was bored by. As for my friend, she thought most of the set was boring as she is not a NIN fan. She was there strictly for Jane's Addiction who were also very good.

You can see a complete list of all Nine Inch Nails discography, or go back to the Nine Inch Nails tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.