Album: The Downward Spiral
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Label: Nothing Records (TVT/Interscope)
Year: 1994
Rating: 5/5
Summary: A depressive masterpiece. Highly recommended.
Released after the noisy Broken EP and before the relatively clean
album The Fragile, The Downward Spiral is arguably Nine Inch Nails's
magnum opus. Inspired by David Bowie's Low and Pink Floyd's The
Wall, it is an immensely depressing and presumably semi-autobiographical
album that charts the descent of a fictional character.
Faced with losing the comfort of his religion, the album's protagonist
plummets into a state of total despair. After trying unsuccessfully
to find solace in his lover's embrace, which only serves to make him
feel guilty about his desire for her, he starts to withdraw from the
pain of the real world. In the end, he eventually realises his only
escape is killing himself.
In keeping with the dramatic nature of this album, the music employs
leitmotif. Similarly, various lines are repeated obsessively, as
if the protagonist is trying to reassure himself of something he
knows deep down to be a lie: firstly that "Nothing can stop me now
because I don't care anymore," then "You didn't hurt me, nothing can
hurt me," which is finally replaced with the simple plead "Kill me."
As far as the music itself goes, Trent Reznor writes good tunes, but
refuses to make them accessible. The odd catchy guitar riff is more
than offset by a penchant for interesting time signatures, detuned
instruments, harsh sounds, extreme dynamic ranges - often alternating
between intimate whispers and shouting - and a frankly scary soundscape
of decaying organic noise that disgusts you at first, but eventually
grows on you with repeated listens.
The Downward Spiral is one of the few albums that has made me cry
with empathy, during the cathartic release provided by the regressive
instrumental piece A Warm Place, and is a beautiful work of art.
This album is possibly dangerous because it depicts total despair
in a way that envelopes the listener like only music can. Despite
this, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this masterpiece to anybody
who knows what complete depression feels like. It is in a class of
its own.