June 4, 2002
Five years on from his breakout Endtroducing..., hip-hop's reigning recluse showed he still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve -- as well as many more rare grooves left for sampling. Shadow had kept a low recording profile during the preceding years, and that lack of product actually helps The Private Press display just how good a producer he is; the depth of his production sense and the breadth of his stylistic palette prove just as astonishing the second time out.
September 22, 1992
Short, savage, and pummeling, Broken was the turning point where Trent Reznor set aside his dark synth-pop ambitions and went for a more visceral, metallic sound. Guitars play a much more prominent role than on Pretty Hate Machine, while the electronics are more jagged and caustic, which set the table for the career-defining The Downward Spiral two years later.