When Trent Reznor first hit the industrial scene with “Pretty Hate Machine,” it was clear he was a genius. This one-man band took industrial into mainstream airwaves and found a broad audience for his music. Nine Inch Nails wrapped industrial up with a pop filler that made it more palatable for the masses. “The Downward Spiral” is not that kind of album.

I had the rare pleasure of seeing Reznor’s first solo tour for “Pretty Hate Machine” at the Warfield in San Francisco. A beautiful old theater with balcony seating, the Warfield’s carvings and old-world trappings were the perfect backdrop as Reznor swung by a chain through the thick smoke out over the audience. Reznor’s performance was gripping. When I returned from a summer trip to Europe, all I heard about was Reznor’s “breakdowns” on stage and how he threw a fit at Lollapalooza, storming off stage and refusing to finish. In some ways, it feels like Reznor does the same thing on “The Downward Spiral,” but that is his genius. He is creating more than songs to top the charts, he is creating music so tangible that one can virtually see it and touch it.

Reznor layers sound like a painter layering images for a landscape. To create a fully vibrant background for his striking lyrics, Reznor toys with music, adding unexpected details and sounds. “Mr. Self Destruct” opens with the sound of footfalls (or is it the sound of fists falling) and a man’s cries, followed by fierce crashing guitars and screams proclaiming, “I am the voice inside your head … and I control you.” Then Reznor takes the listener on a journey where he maintains control at all times. Using sudden changes in arrangements and odd time signatures, the listener is caught in a riptide of unpredictable sound, never knowing when or where he’ll at last find the water’s edge and gasp air.

For another artist, the intricacies of “The Downward Spiral” would preclude any commercial success. Yet the album spawned two singles: “March of the Pigs” and “Closer.” With flailing drums, “March of the Pigs” opens to a wild roller coaster of what appears to be traditional industrial rage: “I want to break it up. I want to smash it up.” Yet this is a trick and Reznor changes midstream to a lilting chorus that ends with an ironic “Now doesn’t that make you feel better?” only to fall into another round of smashing guitar chords. In complete contrast, “Closer” is about as sexy as a song can get. Leading in with pulsing drums, one can feel the veins flowing as the keyboards come in: “You let me violate you.” It is this ability to hook the listener in from the first note that gives Reznor’s music such power. “You get me closer to God!” he cries.

Although they didn’t spawn a commercial single, both “Hurt” and “Piggy” also received radio play, with “Hurt” garnering even more attention after a 2002 Johnny Cash cover. The closest thing to a ballad on the entire album, “Hurt” opens to the sounds of white noise and slowly builds with whispering lyrics to a thrumming guitar until the drums come out and Reznor proclaims: “You could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down. I will make you hurt.” Then the music abruptly settles down, only to build once more until it falls into a single guitar note stretching endlessly back into white noise. In contrast, “Piggy” has a simple, repetitive beat that underscores Reznor’s sighing and then angry voice. As the second track on the album, he prepares the listener for the inevitable journey they will be drawn into as he endlessly repeats “Nothing can stop me now.” Through to the last second of the track, the final notes of the song can still be heard playing as if they are only fading into the distance, rather than coming to an end.

But these four tracks are in no way the pinnacle of this album, which contains over an hour of provocative music. Reznor is a true artist. Combining an extensive palette of sounds with double entendre lyrics, he is both a painter and a poet tracking the mental journey of one man in song. “The Downward Spiral” remains the highest selling Nine Inch Nails album in the United States. It also received a number of critical accolades including: ranked 25 by Spin’s list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005" and 200 on Rolling Stone’s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." The album’s “Self Destruct” tour reached mass audiences at Woodstock '94 where it was seen in 24 million homes on pay-per-view.

With these credentials, it is clear that “The Downward Spiral” has many gems. “Heresy” is an intense spine chiller in which Reznor proclaims, “God is dead!” Another high-energy favorite is “Ruiner.” With a guitar solo reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” the tension builds and the lyrics marvel at the strength of the oppressor until, once again, Reznor underscores his storytelling (“Nothing can hurt me, nothing can stop me now”) with repetitive sound and lyrics which, this time, are cut off abruptly. “The Becoming” cuts into this blank space to simulated sounds of human cries and robotic noise, telling the metaphorical story of a soul’s death by replacing emotions with the coldness of machine. Left to drums, vocals and piano, “I Do Not Want This” continues this theme of the man being emptied and replaced with only the chorus to try to scream in protest against the robotic sounds of the process: “And maybe this is a cry for help.” Yet the song fades out with the sounds of the machine still intermingled with the cries of the man. Thus begins “Big Man With a Gun” where factory noise intermingles with the ravings of the man who seems to have lost the fight for his soul. He screams, “I’m as hard as f^cking steel, and I’ve got the power.” Finally in “A Warm Place” the sounds of agony slip away and in come the soft, dream-like sounds of the synthesizer, void of a single word. With a total of 14 words found in twelve lines, “Eraser” follows up with a beat that kicks against the confines of its indistinct structure for 3.5 minutes, as if trying to become more than the song which contains it. In the final minute of the song, the lyrics burst out and rise into indistinct noise. “Reptile” embodies the industrial genre. Filled with mechanical sounds, at one point the man can be heard as if yelling from within the confines of the machine. “Need to contaminate to alleviate this loneliness.” Finally, the sounds of a respirator and the whir of monitors lead into title track “The Downward Spiral.” Softly spoken words over anguished cries, the narrator talks about shooting himself. Then the album closes its story with “Hurt” and the promise that “if I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself. I would find a way.”

To truly appreciate “The Downward Spiral,” one should look at it as art – a novel or a series of paintings – which tell the epic story of one man’s journey. Much like its predecessor, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” this album is made greater by the sum of its parts. However, industrial is not for everyone. Just as an abstract painter does not have mass appeal, industrial rarely breaks into the mass market. Once again, proving the genius of both Reznor and Picasso in painting their art so vividly that even the novice connoisseur can appreciate the greatness of individual works.

My individual rankings of each song are more in line with the potential commercial response rather than focused on a song’s merits as a work of art. While “Mr. Self Destruct” is a masterpiece of storytelling through sound and lyrics, it would not be well received by those who had not cultivated a taste for such things. As with Picasso, it will not have mass appeal due to its disjointed sound. On the other hand, “Closer” is an anthem for teens and sexuality and, therefore, will please a much wider audience. So, with that disclaimer…

My individual song rankings relative to mass appeal (* to *****):

1. Mr. Self Destruct **
2. Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now) ****
3. Heresy *****
4. March of the Pigs ****
5. Closer *****
6. Ruiner *****
7. The Becoming ****
8. I Do Not Want This ***
9. Big Man With a Gun ****
10. A Warm Place *****
11. Eraser ****
12. Reptile *****
13. The Downward Spiral ***
14. Hurt *****

Consider "The Downward Spiral" Dual Disc set.

http://www.epinions.com/content_412646674052

---------Check out my other CD reviews---------------

http://www.epinions.com/content_412017528452
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http://www.epinions.com/content_410826215044
http://www.epinions.com/content_415198383748
http://www.epinions.com/content_415205920388


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving