Nine Inch Nails: With Teeth.

A lot of other people in Blogdom are doing it and I've never been one to let a comfortable bandwagon drive by without hitching a ride to see if the seats are comfortable.

Here's my track-by-track for the new Nine Inch Nails album "With Teeth" - god knows Trent has made us wait long enough so it's worth at least a small song-and-dance for the fact it's nearly here.

To hear it legally and in full ahead of it's release, go to http://www.myspace.com/ninofficial

With Teeth

1. All The Love In The World.
A track of two very distinct halves and something very different as a NIN track and especially as a NIN album opener. A stumbling electronic beat, very Warp label in sound, starts with a simple vocal and backing wash and a warm yet ominous piano run. Very simple and mid-paced. Then, around half way, a dramatic change. A solid four-to-the-floor beat, an almost house piano, a prominent tambourine and Trent multi-tracked in lots of repeats of the track title. After a bar a fuzzed bass kicks in and it becomes an almost uplifting stomp. Very different and, initially, not very NIN sounding. After a few spins though it makes perfect sense. Just be prepared to be wrong footed for the rest of the album.
Quick Review (QR): Schizophrenic uplifting rattler.

2. You Know What You Are.
There's always one track (at least) on each album which is the distorted, grimy, stomping shouter. You know, the real big sledgehammer to the senses that Trent always seems to find favour with. This is said projectile weapon. Fast, hard and heavily programmed aggression behind him Trents distorted bile is spat out with some force, and the chorus only lifts this a notch further. A break-down hits and a subtle rolling guitar line takes over before climbing back up for the almost Prodigy like last bar or so finish.
QR: Venom spitting rusty cobra.

3. The Collector.
You could put this pretty easily on "The Downward Spiral" and it would be quite at home. A little "March of the Pigs" in it's production, with a faster riffed chorus and a more paced verse. Very insistent drums and a pretty live sound. A piano line, loose and wandering, comes in late on and adds a strange edge to the feeling of it. Fits well on what would otherwise be a typical NIN track, though some would argue it as exactly the sort of track they've not been doing enough. No surprises but pretty much nailed, if you'll excuse the pun..
QR: Drive-time music for cars that run on black leather.

4. The Hand That Feeds.
The lead single and a track that crept up on me over a few listens. Very direct, very little in the way of obvious post-manipulation - will work seriously well live. Having avoided leaks up until then heard that the video was up on the NIN.COM website, grabbed it and sat excitedly with a friend to watch. Rather underwhelmed and left with an "Is that it ?" kind of feeling. The weird thing is that over a few plays, and as part of the album, it actually works really well and I'm realising now that I actually quite like it. Very direct and totally obvious why it's the first track released. C'mon - you've heard it by now. I'll move on.
QR: Infectiously direct.

5. Love Is Not Enough.
Tears for Fears "Mad World". Yep, that is the first bar's lone beat - to all intents and purposes. Some long, low slung guitar and running drums back Trent almost-singing. Some heavily distorted lines popping in before a fully backed chorus before dropping back to the sparse verse again. Lots of very subtle but effective touches tucked away. A strange almost analog sounding line cuts in for some bars towards the end but I can't place where I think I've heard it's like before.
QR: Deceptively hook-laden.

6. Every Day is Exactly The Same.
Trents so-nearly-broken piano comes out of the cupboard to start things and is followed by a pounding yet measured drumming and pulsing synth. Reminds me irrationally of "The Day The World Went Away" for no apparent reason. Breaks down around the mid point and build back up again but fairly one-paced. Very much a grower and has only made an impact after a few plays.
QR: Fragile impact.

7. With Teeth.
Growling bass, a stumbling live drum pattern and an almost Frippian distorted guitar. Could be equally be described as sparse AND loud - the patterns used are very disjointed yet hold together well. As title tracks go it's quite odd. None more so than when it drops to just about the quietest possible piano/vocal break....then, as your ears are just adjusting, crashes back in - don't turn up the volume folks or Trent will be owing you a new set of speakers.
QR: Lurching monster.

8. Only.
The bastard love-child of "Pretty Hate Machine" and where Trent is now. Could be the offspring of "Down In It". Very old-school spoken word vocals with that "inflection that's almost a note" that Trent does. Opening drums are wonderfully old-school and the down-and-loose bass that joins it will stick in your head for ages. This is current NIN doing NIN retro, and doing it easily well enough to be a massive new anthem for the "Head Like A Hole" kids to latch on to. Oh, and you'll finally get to find out what "the dot" was from "Down in it" - a nice touch. Wonderfully managing to be dirty, broken and infectious.
QR: NIN doing NIN. The pretender to the 'Hole' throne.

9. Getting Smaller.
Probably the most stripped down track I've heard by them. Very fast and energetic and very much a 'band' track, at least in sound. Almost straightforward enough to be recorded as live. The most Grohl-ish the drums sound - very fast paced and carrying buzzing guitars as the track crashes away almost threatening to run away at times. Expect bruises in the pit when this gets played live.
QR: A pit-pleaser firing straight down the middle.

10. Sunspots
There are some tracks that have that certain something about them, something more of an undercurrent. This has something somewhere between creeping menace underpinning the lyrics and an almost stalking eroticism. A stalking bass line and simple drumming back Trents half whispering vocals in the verse with only a raise for the short chorus. Lyrics like "Fuck in the fire and we'll spread all the ashes around" only serve to keep the heat theme running. A wonderful analog siren wail squelching insistently through the later half - like something off the Human Leagues 1980 Travelogue album. A current favourite.
QR: smoldering sex-music for human torches and pyromaniacs.

11. The Line Begins To Blur.
I'd probably describe this as the most NIN sounding track on the album. Distortion, feedback, pulsing synth lines - very heavily programmed. Almost broken plaintive vocals interspersed with an almost yelped delivery. Another track with feet in past work - this time with the first half more Spiral and the second more Fragile. Very dirty and gritty yet somehow managing to lift itself during the latter half.
QR: Gritty swaggering insistence.

12. Beside you in Time.
Trent zones out and we'll most likely be joining him during this - luckily in a good way. A totally hypnotizing repetition of My Bloody Valentine / Space Men 3 guitars - heavily treated and layered over the simplest of almost click-track electronic beats. Treatment gives it a really off kilter style which just makes it mess with your head more. Seems to do very little musically for the first few minutes but there's odd little movements in the sound as the track plays which you miss on first listen - amazing on headphones. Trent speak-singing through most until towards the end when it breaks down before ramping back up with a new energy and more insistent guitar riffs. Fades into atmospherics.
QR: Utterly mesmerising Trent experimentation at it's best.

13. Right Where It Belongs.
If black can be described as 'the new black' then I guess it's ok to call this 'the new Hurt'. Raw, contemplative lyrics and a simple piano backing slow build until a short sampled live crowd breaks through and lifts the vocals resolution (literally lifting it in the mix) towards the end. Very much a step on from the live version of the aforementioned "Hurt". Expect black eyeliner to run for the gathered when played - most liable to join the 'affecting black and white footage' brigade. Once this track sinks in you'll not be shaking it anytime soon.
QR: Deafeningly soft emotional voyeurism.

14. Home.
Opening with an almost ethnic pipe sound and a pounding drum run this is another of NIN's simple sounding yet deceptively busy builders. Trents vocals are soft and allowed to lift with emotion as he bares that tiny bit of his soul not freed in the previous track. Breaks down into purely drums at the close. Short and a bookend to make the albums exit.
QR: Emotional closure made aural.