cdm72's Full Review: Closer to God [Maxi Single] by Nine Inch Nails
You know there’s something wrong when you see a CD containing several remixes of one of the best Nine Inch Nails songs of all time and you wait nearly 10 years before you pick it up. Such was the case with myself and Halo 9: Closer to God.
Released in mid-1994, Halo 9 contains 6 versions of the Halo 8 track “Closer” (“Closer to God”, (precursor), (deviation), (internal), (further away) and the album version), plus 3 new tracks, “Heresy (blind)” (a remix of the Halo 8 track “Heresy”), the instrumental “March of the Fckheads”, and a cover of Soft Cell’s 1982 song “Memorabilia.” Like I said, I let this one sit on the record store shelf for 10 years before I ever bothered to pick it up. My previous experience to that time with Nine Inch Nails remix CDs (Halos 4 & 6) hadn’t been exactly favorable and I couldn’t justify spending any amount of money on 6 versions of a song I’d already grown a bit tired of. Besides, “Closer”, in its original form is just about as perfect a song as you can get, so what could remixes of any caliber really bring to the table?
But as time passed and I became more convinced that I would eventually have to own all available Halos—and that some of those were becoming more and more difficult to find—I relented.
Not the worst purchase I’ve ever made, to be sure.
The song itself, “Closer”, is a strange thing. It’s definitely not your average rock pop song. The lyrics, which detail the narrator’s sexually obsessive love of his significant other/victim go about as far into describing that scary kind of desire as you can get and remain on the safe side of legal. The repeated refrain “I wanna fck you like an animal” is one of the most famous lines in music. The music, as well, is obviously not your average 3-piece arrangement. The backbeat consists of an Iggy Pop sample and white noise while the guitars are heavy grunge thrash with a kick-a$$ bass line and a very light and almost purposefully-meandering piano line just under the surface. Put together, it’s a scary song, threatening in a way you’re not entirely sure of, but there’s a chance that, whatever the danger, you’re gonna like it. In the end, “Closer” is a brilliant track.
Now for the remixes.
For me, part of what’s always made “Closer” so great has been the music. There are a lot of songs you can remix and do it just as good if not better, because, let’s face it, not many of the artists you hear on the radio are too complex when it comes to the music. Let’s get some drums and a bass, write a chord progression and throw in a solo after the second verse-chorus, and we’re good. But Trent Reznor has never been that simple. A musician at an early age (piano at 5, jazz and marching bands in high school), Reznor is just as well-known for his mutli-layered compositions as he is for his angst- and self-loathing-fueled lyrics.
Just when you think you’ve heard everything his songs have to offer, another listen reveals some other minor thing in the back, whether it’s a scream you never noticed or the way the drum sample jumps from one speaker to the next to create the illusion of being surrounded by the song. With that in mind, how many different ways, really, could you imagine remixing such a musically perfect song?
The answer is, not as many as you’d hope.
“Closer to God” is very similar to the original version in terms of tempo and ferocity, although it is a bit louder and the industrial factor has been turned up a bit, especially at the end.
“Closer (Precursor)” starts off brilliantly, with a very creepy mattress spring creaking effect and Reznor’s vocals with a bit of distortion just over the top. The tempo is very deliberate, like stepping determinedly from uncertain stone to uncertain stone across a raging river. “(Precursor)” has all the time in the world to reveal itself and it’s enjoying the antici
pation. An edited remix of this version appeared in the opening credits to the movie “Se7en”.
“(Deviation)” is a pretty decent remix, a little slower than the original, the drum track is completely replaced with a handclap effect, which gives the entire song a more upbeat feel. The lyrics are all the same, but we’re no longer stuck in the dirt and grime of an abandoned warehouse. It’s almost “Closer for Stripping to”.
Wherea “(Deviation)” offers a little hope in this bleak song, “(Internal)” turns us around 180 degrees and reminds us just what this song is capable of: namely, scaring the holy pi$$ out of us. The vocals are delivered in a very threatening raspy whisper and the different layers of music are all overlaid against each other to create this huge wall of organized confusion in your ears. The drums almost sound as if they’re being played backwards with that all-too familiar piano line played forward.
Finally, “(Further Away)”. If “Closer” were every possessed by Pazuzu, this would be the result. The music drones along like a swarm of insects and Trent’s vocals are hurled almost angrily at the listener. The calm breaks throughout the song do nothing to alleviate the tension. If anything, even the calm is imposing.
Overall, I enjoy the remixes on their own. Listening to them one at a time with something else in between you can better concentrate and enjoy them for what they are. Played all at once, however, they all tend to run together and you sometimes lost track of just which version you’re listening t0.
The non-“Closer” tracks help to break up that monotony. A little. “Heresy (Blind)” and “Memorabilia” are back to back, preceded by THREE different versions of “Closer”, but whatever.
This “Heresy” remix is a much more club-friendly version with that huge pounding bass, while the Soft Cell cover is just . . . well, it’s weird. Granted, I don’t know the Soft Cell version, so maybe it’s just the song itself, but for me this is my absolute least favorite song on Halo 9. The music is full of static and distortion while Trent’s vocals are just a little too in the background and vague for me. It’s doesn’t make for a pleasing listening experience.
Finally there’s the song with what I think is an awesome title, the instrumental “March of the Fckheads”. Remixed from the Halo 8 track “March of the Pigs”, “MotF” provides a nice break from the barrage of “I want to fck you like an animal” (which has to be repeated on Halo 9 at least 150,000 times) and still segues perfectly from one to the next--in this case, from “(Internal)” to “(Further Away)”.
I don’t regret waiting so long to pick up Halo 9. I do enjoy the remixes, especially “(Precursor)”, but at the end of the day it’s still 6 versions of one song, and a song I never thought needed to be tampered with in the first place. Also, the only new song on here, the Soft Cell cover, pales so miserably to the Queen cover on Halo 4 it’s ridiculous. At least that’s my opinion.
One thing I know for sure, the constant repetition I subject myself to with these cds in preparing reviews is not good for my enjoyment of Halo 9. I think if I never hear the line “I wanna fck you like an animal” again I’ll be just fine with that.
After this, I probably won’t spend too much time with this one except a random track here and there, but I certainly won’t be playing the entire thing again any time soon.
Halo 9 is one of the better NIN remix cds, but there’s still only so much of a “better” thing you can take.
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