Good thing the last Nine Inch Nails album was two-discs because it would take six more years for Trent Reznor to release the next one. While With Teeth is a welcome addition to the NIN collection, it is also the weakest. Since I consider his previous material (excluding remix albums) works of genius, that's not a huge slam to this release. With Teeth is an overall enjoyable album with plenty to appease longtime fans while occasionally taking the sound in welcome new directions.

The album is bookended by two slow, emotional songs. First is All the Love In the World. Electronic thumping, gentle piano playing, and Reznor's jealous crooning gradually rise from eerie to angry. Last is the heartbreaking Right Where It Belongs, with its excellent introspections including "What if everything around you isn't quite as it seems?/ What if all the world you think you know is an elaborate dream?" More softness comes from Every Day Is Exactly the Same - which sounds like something straight off The Fragile - and the tortured Beside You In Time.

The first single The Hand That Feeds is a high-energy, synthesized rock song with an invigorating chorus. This is exactly the kind of single this album needed to garner attention, but at the same time, it fits with the rest of the songs and should remain a well-liked piece of the NIN catalog for a long time. While The Hand... is far from poppy, it sounds that way in comparison to other more abrasive tracks. Dave Grohl's drumming is intensely frantic on You Know What You Are?, helping to make this one of the album's most cathartic tracks. Grohl continues pounding for The Collector, which is nearly as cathartic when Reznor shouts "swallow it all" in a manner that more closely resembles spewing bile than singing. And nothing is more awesomely corrosive than The Line Begins To Blur, a creepy industrial track with a beat that resembles some kind of half machine, half hideous creature.

A chunk of this album actually displays a touch of Reznor's lighter side (while remaining unmistakably Nine Inch Nails, of course). The title track is most noatable for Reznor's pronunciation of it: "Uhwith-uhteeth-uhh." While catchy, it borders on an annoying piece of an otherwise cool song. The lighter side works better on Only, one of the biggest standouts. It may be bitter and volatile, but be warned: its beat and nearly spoken word verses may cause involuntary dancing. You'll keep moving through the fast-paced Getting Smaller, which is about as close to straight-ahead rock as Reznor may ever get.

One of the album's major detractions is the unnecessary f-bombs. Sure, every NIN album contains explicit language - that's never been a problem. But now it seems as though Reznor is swearing not because he has to but because he's at a loss for words. Or, as another Epinionator pointed out, he's just using the words to fill in syllables. Lines like "I haven't got fucking anything," "Don't you fucking know what you are?" and "There is no fucking you/ There is only me" just don't seem to need the f-words like Closer and Starfuckers, Inc. did.

Despite that, this is a wholly enjoyable album. While I'm just not feeling right about labeling it "classic" as I have for his other works, I have very few complaints about Reznor's latest offering. With Teeth shows Reznor still angry and at times deep in despair, but lest we accuse him of depression overkill, he sprinkles in some New Wave sounds, possibly just to throw us off. It may not be the best Nine Inch Nails album, but it's still worth sinking your teeth into.


Also from Nine Inch Nails:

Pretty Hate Machine
Broken
The Downward Spiral
Year Zero
Ghosts I-IV



Recommended: Yes