Review: The Downward Spiral

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

1994

I told you I was going to keep doing this!

I remember the first time I heard The Downward Spiral. I was 16 or 17 and still in high school. This was when I still just getting into Nine Inch Nails and by that same vein in the process of having my world rocked and life changed. It might sound like hyperbole but it's the truth. If I hadn't dared to venture beyond classic rock, which was the only genre of music I listened to at the time, I may have been a completely different person. I might have had a bafflingly narrow view of the world and appreciated things far less. It might seem like an odd thing to say but I really do think that The Downward Spiral was key in my mental and personal development, especially since I was at the edge of what is essentially childhood and about to fall into that vacuum known as adulthood. The first time I heard the album, I knew I was listening to something that "special" can't even begin to describe. This album upon subsequent listens as become a part of me the same way the discography has etched itself into my mind, and this is where my review starts.

The second full-length album entitled The Downward Spiral came a lengthy 5 years after the stunning debut of Pretty Hate Machine. Where Pretty Hate Machine laid the groundwork, and Broken (an EP) built upon it, The Downward Spiral marked not only a change in direction (as Broken was sheer sonic violence) but an improvement, further refinement and also an enormous leap forward, not only in sound but in the way the album is presented. There's far more cohesion and what I would call concentrated fury in this album than there was on Broken and Pretty Hate Machine. The Downward Spiral presents a more evolved NIN though the album itself is rife with chaos and passion. For that reason, The Downward Spiral continues to resonate heavily with me and other individuals.

This album communicates with the listener beyond the surface level. It says what is or was on your mind at the time or at some point. "At some point" still probably resonates with you because it's so deeply embedded in your thought process that when you revisit it, even unintentionally, the ground feels so familiar and you feel as if it hasn't been that long since you left.

It's like seeing an old friend and carrying on a conversation as if it hasn't been 10 years, or moved away, or something like that.

The Downward Spiral stays with you.

Sex, angst, isolation, a desire for peace, refined violent poetry, humor, raw imagery, and letting go, among other things.

If you want examples of these, just listen to Closer (also known as the sex anthem of everyone who wants to break free and abandon their inhibitions), March of the Pigs (the humorous fight song that stirs and swells an ocean of ferocity found inside us all), and Hurt (the song that you come to when you are feeling down and need something to reassure you, or at the very least liberate you if only for 6 minutes, my sweetest friend). I realize that these are the songs that are the most popular from this album but it's because they resonate with everyone on some level. Of course, the abuse and angst (in sex flavor- damn, did I really just say that?) and some dark humor is also present in Big Man with a Gun (just read the lyrics), and Heresy if you want something sacrilegious that you can also dance to and make you question (or at the very least voice what you're thinking when it comes to) religion (or the blind worship of an omnipotent deity). You know, stuff that you're probably all about when you're an angsty teenager who digs anarchy (and stuff you tend to revisit because things aren't going well and you need to hear someone who gets you). A Warm Place speaks volumes without having lyrics. Like a hug.

This album understands and will always understand you.

10/10