Trent Reznor might have one of the most difficult jobs in the
\nworld of alternative rock. After the breakthrough success of his
\none-man group Nine Inch Nails’s debut album
\nPretty Hate Machine<\/i>, Reznor has faced the unenviable task of
\nhaving to try to outdo himself with each successive release.<\/p>\n
It seems like an eternity has passed since Nine Inch Nails last
\ngraced us with a full-length release.
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> contained some absolute moments of
\nbrilliance, angst, anger and existentialism that would have had
\nJean-Paul Sartre saying that things had gone too far. The disc also
\nbrought Nine Inch Nails two surprise hits in “Closer” and “Hurt,”
\nthe latter starting a dangerous trend as the band started
\nexperimenting with ballads. For the past two years, long-time fans
\nhave waited and waited to see what Reznor had to offer as a return
\nvolley.<\/p>\n
That volley finally came in the form of
\nThe Fragile<\/i>, a two-disc, 100-minute set that proves an old
\nsaying true: less is more.<\/p>\n
If you’ve felt apprehension by some of the reports that this
\nalbum is Reznor at his happiest, relax… there’s enough loathing
\nand angst on this album to wipe the smile off a clown. And just in
\ncase that one parent who keeps getting albums banned from Wal-Mart
\nsees his kid walk in the door with this one, let’s just say that
\nThe Fragile<\/i> makes sure it earns the dreaded “Parental
\nAdvisory” sticker. How could it not with such a charmingly named
\nsong as “Starfuckers, Inc.”?<\/p>\n
\nThe Fragile<\/i> opens up strongly enough with tracks like
\n“Somewhat Damaged,” a tune which sounds like it could have easily
\ncome from the period of
\nBroken<\/i>. Other tracks, like “The Wretched,” “We’re In This
\nTogether” and the title track all show the signs that prove
\nReznor’s brilliance.<\/p>\n
But the early dive into ballad land on “The Day The World Went
\nAway” is a harbinger of things to come – and the picture isn’t
\npretty. Reznor makes use of instrumentals far too often on
\nThe Fragile<\/i> – or, at the least, extended instrumental
\nperiods in songs. For an artist whose power comes from the written
\nword combined with the challenging progression of his songs, it
\nalmost seems like Reznor uses these pieces to fill in the creative
\nblanks – not a good sign.<\/p>\n
The first half of
\nThe Fragile<\/i> (charmingly subtitled “Left” – disc two is named
\n“Right”) weakens witha series of pieces that dares to suggest this
\nmight be a concept album. The way that “Even Better,” “Pilgrimage,”
\n“No, You Don’t,” “La Mer” and “The Great Below” fit together is a
\nlittle too ordered to have been an accident. If only there were
\nsome power behind this track grouping, it might have had a kick
\nlike a mule.<\/p>\n
The second half of
\nThe Fragile<\/i> is better, though the mistakes made on the first
\nhalf are still made (albeit on a lesser scale). Tracks like “Into
\nThe Void” dare to suggest that Reznor is trying to be a pop star in
\nthe line of Marilyn Manson, while “Starfuckers, Inc.” – a good
\ntrack on its own – is grating mostly for the chorus, not for the
\nmusic that, at one time, could send your spinal column
\ncrumbling.<\/p>\n
\nThe Fragile<\/i> is the kind of disc that could have easily gone
\nunder the razor blade to become a more cohesive album. It doesn’t
\nhave to sound pissed all the time, but there just seems to be too
\nmuch shift in mood to be followable. And maybe – just maybe – if
\nthis album had been shorter and not so jam-packed with
\ninstrumentals, Reznor could have focused his energies into making
\nan album that could have done a Texas two-step on even
\nPretty Hate Machine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\nThe Fragile<\/i> is the kind of album that the diehard fans will
\nfind little fault with, and it does have its moments – but it’s far
\nfrom the masterpiece that Reznor would have liked to have created.
\nThis one is too ambitious, it’s too disjointed… it’s just simply
\ntoo much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5836],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39412","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nine-inch-nails","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39412"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}