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Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails has foreplay, but doesn

By Lars Eirik Eide for Dagbladet on May 3, 2005

Nine Inch Nailsā€™ Trent Reznor once again proves himself a perfectionist. The influential musical industrialist has (as usual) been working on his new album, ā€With Teethā€, for years, and the result is (as usual) an intricate work where everything seems painstakingly planned, exactly how itā€™s meant to seem.

Sense of melody

Johnny Cashā€™s version of Nine Inch Nailsā€™ ā€œHurtā€ spread Reznorā€™s sense of melody to place he couldnā€™t reach himself. The same sense of melody is an important ingredient in ā€œWith Teethā€. The most immediate version is first single ā€œThe Hand that Feedsā€, complete with hooks, a head-banging riff and a singalong chorus. The beautiful version is ā€œRight Where it Belongsā€, a quiet and not least controlled song where Reznorā€™s vulnerable voice takes center stage.

And of course one hears Reznorā€™s usual suspects: industrial ingredients like aggression, electronics, angsty/spooky/intense vocals, among other things inherited from bands like Big Black. In addition, he can be a bit funky, and at times also quite sexy.

No hunger

The problem is that ā€œWith teethā€ lacks the naked hunger that has always whipped out the greatness in Reznorā€™s music. And then this listener is left without the climax Nine Inch Nails promises and has delivered so brilliantly in the past.


Translated by Sveinung Mikkelsen

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