From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Subject: Review: Nine Inch Nails - Broken
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 14:52:16 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.industrial


Nine Inch Nails		Broken		Island/TVT/Interscope IMCD 8004 [UK]

	Total Running Time: 37 min 45 sec

	1.	Pinion				1:02
	2.	Wish				3:46
	3.	Last				4:44
	4.	Help Me I Am In Hell		1:56
	5.	Happiness In Slavery		5:21
	6.	Gave Up				4:08
	98.	Physical			5:29
	99.	Suck				5:06

_Broken_ - I'm not sure if the title refers to the equipment this new EP
from NIN was recorded on (it sounds in places as though it was recorded at
the bottom of a swamp, albeit a very loud swamp) or the fact that it makes
you think your CD player is broken when you play it and your CD informs you
that contrary to all indications on the packaging, the CD has 99 tracks.

It might be very clever to have the two bonus tracks (which aren't listed
anywhere on the packaging) as tracks 98 and 99, but having to skip through
91 "blank" tracks, each of which consists of 3 seconds of silence, is
annoying in the extreme, especially on a Discman where you have to hit the
forward button once for each track. They also exaggerate the amount of
music on the disc considerably - the total time *appears* to be almost 38
minutes, but six minutes of that is blank space and the disc's true length
is just under 32 minutes.

Right, what else can I complain about? Oh yeah, it's in a Digi-pak. Quite
well designed, admittedly, with fold out panels and nice artwork, but I'd
rather have had even a slimline jewel box to this. If this had been at full
album price, rather than the "expensive single" price of #5.99, I wouldn't
have even bought it. Digi-paks are OK for singles, but I demand better
packaging for albums. As it is, even given the good care I give my
collection, it probably won't be too long before _Broken_ is, if not
actually _Broken_, then at least _Badly Scuffed_.

OK, I've complained about the dumb gimmicky tracking and the cruddy
packaging, now how about the music?

Hmmm. I liked _Pretty Hate Machine_ without ever being too blown away by
it, and I guess I'd say the same about this one. The synths have receded
into the background and been largely replaced by guitars, the overall sound
being much heavier than the majority of _PHM_, perhaps rather closer to
recent Ministry. I don't know exactly what I could describe this one as
sounding like though - _PHM_ was angsty pop with a "new industrial"
sensibility, _Broken_ seems more like the same sound shifted "sideways",
angsty thrash-pop with a "new industrial" sensibility perhaps? Meaning it's
got lots of thrashy guitars, angst-ridden lyrics, metallic boings and
clanks, but some of the tracks still retain something recognisable as a pop
hook.

Trent Reznor still seems quite convinced the entire world exists only to
make his life miserable but he's obviously getting a little pissed off with
the whole situation, the whining having been supplemented with a great deal
of screaming, much of it apparently reflecting the view that if the world
is nasty and unpleasant, saying "Fuck" at it a lot will make things better.
It's a shame though, as while Trent's angry scream comes over here much of
the time as sadly cliched, at times on _PHM_ he did actually seem capable
of emoting rather more convincingly and in a rather less one-dimensional
manner ("Something I Can Never Have") than is demonstrated here. It's quite
possible to demonstrate anger and resentment without screaming your head
off but this seems to have escaped Trent this time round. Oh well.

There's no standout tracks quite as obvious as "Head Like A Hole" or "Down
In It" here, but "Happiness In Slavery" is pretty good (reminiscent of
"HLAH" in having a relatively restrained verse followed by a considerably
louder chorus) and "Last" and "Gave Up" are also worth a listen.

Here in the UK we seem to have been quite lucky as far as the bonus track
situation goes. Unlike some US copies, the two bonus tracks (bonuses - hah!
Given that there seem to be almost no copies *without* bonus tracks calling
them bonus tracks is little more than a display of false generosity on the
part of the record company) are both on the disc itself rather than a
separate bonus CD. Buyers of the UK 12" though, will have to make do with a
separate bonus 7" containing the two tracks.

The first of the bonus tracks is "Physical", a competent but non-amazing
Adam Ant cover, the second is a new version of the track "Suck", which was
Trent's contribution to Pigface. I definitely prefer the original version,
which was much more atmospheric and beside which this version is about as
subtle as a brick to the cranium.

So. Was it worth the wait? Well, I was never exactly waiting with baited
breath in the first place - the "legend" that grew up around _Pretty Hate
Machine_ far exceeded its quality and the quality of a release has
*nothing* to do with how long it took to appear. _Broken_ is competent, a
decent listen if you can find it at an acceptable price, and there's two or
three good tracks but overall it's not so much "brilliant" as "quite good
in places."

Erland Rating: +1
Crawford Rating: Blue/Banana/Doberman

--
			Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
	  Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
   Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
	     Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165  Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209
Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews,rec.music.industrial,rec.music.misc