The Frying Pan

Music Review #3:

Nine Inch Nails

Dark, brooding, and emotional, Trent Reznor broke onto the music scene with his 1989 album

titled Pretty Hate Machine. he envisioned for a band that would, using metallic undertones to

bring out a more righteous clang to his point, make points of sociopolitical commentary. This

album was written and recorded to embody this spirit. Did Pretty Hate Machine accomplish

what it was made for?

...No, I'd say it didn't.

The album overall achieved a good round of applause from most critics, although not all of

them took well to Reznor's work. However most progressive rock fans that at the least call

Reznor a 'prog' artist and his band a prog band would do well to stay away from this one.

Instead of the usually dreary electronic use most commonly found in artists such as Stabbing

Westward, Orgy, Ministry, and later NiN works, the album functions around a steady theme of

catchy alternative rock beats and composition, albeit with some amateur technological use

overlapping it.

Pretty Hate Machine brings to the table a large theme of anger, with blatantly spiteful lyrics and,

as stated before, social commentary. But that doesn't excuse the fact that this album is

annoying. I've seen many bands accomplish commentary such as this and do it well. A band

that comes to mind are Porcupine Tree, which actually implies subtly the ideology of anti-

systematical lyrics mixed in with their enjoyable music. Here, it's more along the lines of

Reznor and his emo friends recording an album during their aggressive teenage phase. Other

than that, the songs are just plain boring. The 'catchy' riffs used on the album are over repetitive

and rely on a similar theme, giving the illusion that all of the songs are the same. The only track

that I've found to stand out is the ever present 'Head Like a Hole', although even that song is

just a casual listen and not material for a respectful intake of the album itself.

So, all in all, this is a skippable one. Mostly because any fan of Nine Inch Nails would enjoy

their later works more than the earlier material, but even if your not a fan you would do well not

to pick this one up. Alternative electronic rock? No thanks.

Originally written for Metal Music Archives on 2/9/2015.

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