With Teeth

I'm not one of those people who can say they were listening to Nine Inch Nails before everybody else, but I am a longtime listener. One of the first bands I discovered while in high school, NIN also counts as one of the first I gave money. While the posuers and party people hooked onto "Closer" my sophomore year, I first discovered an earlier effort called *Pretty Hate Machine*.Now founder and front man Trent Reznor brings an LP some believe harkens back to that seminal album. Yes, *With Teeth* stays true to established Nails themes and elements. Yet it evolves both musically and socially from the very sub-genre he helped create. Overall, *With Teeth* is a fine addition to the NIN discography, though also quirky and different enough to put everybody off.-1989 Inch Nails--People seem to have trouble fingering this album. There's a lot a blanket comparisons to past works. That's understandable precisely because it isn't that simple. For example, people say track 2 sounds like something from *Broken*. But "You Know What You Are?" features chords, beats, tones, and lyrics almost alien to the 1992 EP. The track sounds more mature and expensive than probably the entire, earlier album. The only similarity lies in the sheer vocal aggression.Even more inaccurate and complicated are the comparisons to *The Downward Spiral's* "Hurt" and *With Teeth's* "Right Where it Belongs". Yes, both haunting pieces end their respective albums with a whimper instead of a bang-a NIN trademark. The former focuses on the dramatic ruin of a man. It's a self-pitying tragedy. The newer track, aside from being a more complex piece of music, portrays a man fighting to live and to assert his identity in a mass media world. It almost contradicts "Hurt" to say "Hey, don't take this all so seriously! I'm just a rock star. Hear that audience cheering towards the end of the song? That's my idea of making fun of me and my fans alike!"Indeed, a lot of *With Teeth* sounds like an effort to break away from the mold he cast himself in his first three albums. "Only" draws PHM comparisons because of it's overtly 80's style beat, combined with lyrics bearing a superficial resemblance to "Down in it". But it doesn't seem to occur to people that this might be satire-even sarcasm. "Only", like "RWIB", seems to reflect a tongue-in-cheek reference to his entire reputation, in addition to his first album.-Breaking the Fragile-Standing 16 years from *PHM*, his latest album seems to draw from its immediate predecessor. Reznor's 1999 double-CD *The Fragile* remains among my favorite music albums of all time, in part because it demonstrated a musical depth and complexity far beyond anything attempted in not only in Reznor's earlier efforts, but that of many other artists.But Reznor, like many other meaningful artists who hit it big around 1994, made the mistake of waiting too long. It wasn't just a matter of the "Closer" poseurs leaving the show in the face of Reznor's improved musicianship. In his five-year absence, Britney Spears and Limp Bizkit stole the spotlight. The wings filled up with rap-rockers, piano girls, and strip-tease pop stars. In the `99 music environment, *The Fragile* went straight to the head of the stage--only to be pushed into the orchestra pit.-Somewhat Repaired-*With Teeth* sounds like a lessoned learned, being the most dance, single, and radio-friendly material he's made in my ears. It drops the instrumentals, and a lot of instruments, and cranks up the bass over guitars and drums. The first half rocks with catchy anthems and raps. Supposedly geared towards a more live or organic performance, the album sounds heavily synthesized to me, and frequently reminds me of David Bowie-reasons why people might compare it to *PHM*.Yet a lot of *Fragile* and *Still* mechanics exist here. Reznor pulls off a coup in retaining the complexity and depth of music while making it utterly stripped and digestible. And like its predecessor, many of the tracks abandon lyrics at some point to embark on lengthy and fascinating solos. The lyrics themselves tend towards *Fragile* structure than those of prior albums. *With Teeth* also marks the second album in a row in which the song titles are as lengthy and involved as the music. Finally, it builds off the *Fragile* graphic design, employing a minimalist album art consisting of fuzzy close ups and maimed logos, as well as abandoning the distinctive font used in most of the NIN catalogue.Structurally, the album inverses *Fragile*, having a rocking first half and a more critical second. It also resembles *PHM* in being an anthology of songs. Yet it's extremely cohesive-one of the most cohesive pieces Reznor has assembled. I think it's as conceptual an album as anything Reznor's done. As the album progresses the tracks increasingly and dramatically segue, and plunge into increasingly challenging and interconnected layers. So too are the ideas in the songs.Overall *With Teeth* has at lot more depth and individuality than it may first appear to have, both beneath the public appeal and among NIN's prior albums. I can listen to "Right Where it Belongs" constantly though it's not something to tap my feet to as I'm driving to work. This is the sort of thing I look for in music.-And All that Could Have Spent-I'm also keeping a close eye on the disc. The 5.1 surround sound of the dual disc sounds great to me. But it's a dual disc--dual the music, dual the fingerprints and scratches and heat exposure. Also, I notice the CD side doesn't like my home theater system, and I get a lot of read errors.Which leads me to the album tray and cover. The layout compares to *PHM*: both albums are the only albums to feature Reznor's picture. Both also invoke computerized distortion in the album art. Then it departs for the first time from the practice of including lyrics and album information. The cover looks and feels like the same sort of thin cardstock used with *And All that Could Have Been* Deluxe, only with out the heavy cardboard slipcase. On the other hand, I paid less for *With Teeth* dual-disc edition than that of esoteric and anti-establishment CD's like King Missile's *Royal Lunch*.In the end, *With Teeth* seems to gain good reviews, but it's more of a challenge than people credit. No mere throwback, NIN critics probably won't be converted by its satires and self-references, while those who take the past drama too seriously may be disappointed by the very same. None of this wears the record for the worse. It's about as straightforward a band rock album as NIN manages while still being complex and unique.

You've read plenty of reviews on With Teeth and I'm among NIN's many fans. I have very little left to say about the album other than that it's excellent and a natural evolution for Trent Reznor. Afterall, you can only be so depressed and angry at the world before turning to look at yourself. Flow of ideas in the NIN catalogue goes from feeling victim of world (Pretty Hate Machine) to anger towards world (Downward Spiral) to hatred of world for mistreating people (Fragile).Now, With Teeth is about moving on to embracing yourself as being run over victim of world and not giving a fu** about it anymore. In some ways, Trent Reznor is more depressing while in other ways you can see that he's grown a lot stronger. I love the message he conveys of being destroyed by the world inside and out, but you still hold your own despite it all, by focusing on your inward self. Some critics have called his new album selfish and petulant but I think With Teeth is more about acknowledging pain and recognizing that you have to endure it. After Trent's drinking and drugs abuse, it can be said that With Teeth is about no longer using substances to filter out the pain in your life but that you have to take your pain raw and sober. By no means is any of the misery over, Trent Reznor is very true to NIN's hard rock roots, but that the person has changed and can take the world's blows a lot better.With Teeth definitely shows growth in the man and the band NIN. I don't see the album as a return to earlier albums. Rather, NIN's sound has always worked in a pop context and has always been pretty accessible if you gave it a shot. Any similarity to earlier albums exists only because it all originates from one brain. For example, The Collector has some notes that come directly from I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally from The Fragile album. Reznor's brain does a lot of slicing and dicing but the end products always are different from earlier works. This is a solid album. At least one song on With Teeth will get you hooked so that you have to listen to it over and over again. All of the songs will grow on you as you have different moods each day. Lots of favorites are posted here and mine is Sunspots.But just remember, NIN has never been about happiness or uplifting spirits, it's about seeing the naked world in all its ugliness. If you're a happy go-lucky type, this album is not for you. Try playing the CD when you're having a bad day for example, this will bring you to the same place he stays everyday. This album is raw and with a biting edge (hence the name With Teeth), don't expect watered down or filtered emotion that can be spoon fed to the mass public - you have to be akin with Trent Reznor to tune into NIN's new sound. If anything, this album gives me a craving for NIN's new album, expected next year. I just can't get enough...

I’ve always enjoyed Industrial Rock, I was a keyboard player/programmer so maybe I’m bias, but really love NIN’s albums and their live shows are excellent and recorded so well. They always put on a great show and have a great crew.

Yes, the DVD side of this album also has DVD-A as well as an AC-3 surround track in the DVD-V portion. This isn't mentioned in Amazon's technical details (Dual Disc doesn't require DVD-A), so if you are looking for this excellent album on DVD-A, this is it.The CD side is a bit of false advertising in my opinion. While Dual Disc claims only a "limited number" of CD players won't play the CD side of a Dual Disc, this includes my main 2 channel system's Sony C555ES CD/SACD player and most of my computers (which have recent DVD/CD-ROM drives). No playback on my 2 channel system. So it look like I have to get both this for the DVD-A and the CD version for my other systems, contrary to the goal of what a Dual Disc is supposed to offer.Don't buy this expecting it to play in your CD player.