SPC HC's Album Reviews
This album is the entire reason I've decided to get into music reviews, and this is my first.
I started listening to this around the summer of 2021, though since it was my first taste of Nine Inch Nails I found it abrasive and downright unpleasant to listen to sometimes, to the point where I stopped midway through Reptile and left it for a while because I didn't have enough interest in it to get through the last few tracks.
However, after extensively listening to metal and delving into the industrial realm of Argent Metal (a term popularized by DOOM fans for Mick Gordon's style of composition for the game's reboot installments), I had been warmed up more to those super-loud grinding noises that had turned me away at first.
I also didn't think I was in the right state of mind when I first listened to this, because while I was in a serious state of depression I was too deep in my own thoughts to have any sort of retrospective or even perspective for that matter on how I felt, so the lyrics kind of went in one ear and out the other. However, getting back into it in around July of 2022 after a bad breakup I instantly found myself deeply relating to many of the lyrics and even getting emotional as it brought up painful memories of the years prior and forced me to face them. I even remember being excited for the lyrics the next song would hold because I wanted to see how I could put them into my own shoes. It speaks to the honesty of the writing as Trent Reznor was absolutely not in a good place when making this album and it's almost comforting to know that someone else had gone through all this shit like I did, albeit worse off.
Something I tend to idolize this album for is its ability to shift between about 12 different genres of music flawlessly without really breaking its narrative (although Heresy and March of the Pigs deviate from specifically the emotional side of the spiral itself, they're still critical to understanding the protagonist's views and mental state). The use of the main "Downward Spiral" melody is perfectly used, ranging from subtlety to in-your-face much like the album itself. It took me weeks to realize that said melody was actually in Piggy and Heresy as well as Closer and the title track, revelations I was pleasant to discover that make me wish it was used even more between Closer and The Downward Spiral.
The range of instrumentation is absurd, in a good way. Every song has its own texture to it, ranging from the sandpaper-like Mr. Self Destruct, to the cold harshness of Heresy, to the slimy lowness of Closer, to the robotic whirring of The Becoming, to the chugging factory of Reptile. Every song feels unique and somehow isolated in a smooth and steady flow from song to song, and in one specific case (A Warm Place), it made me want to cling onto the song and never let go, breaking my heart as it slowly but surely (literally) erased itself. All of this only elevated by Trent Reznor's vocals, TDS is nearly perfect.
I started listening to this around the summer of 2021, though since it was my first taste of Nine Inch Nails I found it abrasive and downright unpleasant to listen to sometimes, to the point where I stopped midway through Reptile and left it for a while because I didn't have enough interest in it to get through the last few tracks.
However, after extensively listening to metal and delving into the industrial realm of Argent Metal (a term popularized by DOOM fans for Mick Gordon's style of composition for the game's reboot installments), I had been warmed up more to those super-loud grinding noises that had turned me away at first.
I also didn't think I was in the right state of mind when I first listened to this, because while I was in a serious state of depression I was too deep in my own thoughts to have any sort of retrospective or even perspective for that matter on how I felt, so the lyrics kind of went in one ear and out the other. However, getting back into it in around July of 2022 after a bad breakup I instantly found myself deeply relating to many of the lyrics and even getting emotional as it brought up painful memories of the years prior and forced me to face them. I even remember being excited for the lyrics the next song would hold because I wanted to see how I could put them into my own shoes. It speaks to the honesty of the writing as Trent Reznor was absolutely not in a good place when making this album and it's almost comforting to know that someone else had gone through all this shit like I did, albeit worse off.
Something I tend to idolize this album for is its ability to shift between about 12 different genres of music flawlessly without really breaking its narrative (although Heresy and March of the Pigs deviate from specifically the emotional side of the spiral itself, they're still critical to understanding the protagonist's views and mental state). The use of the main "Downward Spiral" melody is perfectly used, ranging from subtlety to in-your-face much like the album itself. It took me weeks to realize that said melody was actually in Piggy and Heresy as well as Closer and the title track, revelations I was pleasant to discover that make me wish it was used even more between Closer and The Downward Spiral.
The range of instrumentation is absurd, in a good way. Every song has its own texture to it, ranging from the sandpaper-like Mr. Self Destruct, to the cold harshness of Heresy, to the slimy lowness of Closer, to the robotic whirring of The Becoming, to the chugging factory of Reptile. Every song feels unique and somehow isolated in a smooth and steady flow from song to song, and in one specific case (A Warm Place), it made me want to cling onto the song and never let go, breaking my heart as it slowly but surely (literally) erased itself. All of this only elevated by Trent Reznor's vocals, TDS is nearly perfect.
Was this review helpful?