Nine Inch Nails - With_Teeth

Artist – Nine Inch Nails
Album – with_teeth
Released – May 3 2005
Genre – Alternative/Industrial
Reviewed By – Nigga J

After a gap of six long years, Trent Reznor returned to the studio to record a brand new album. This album came out in 2005 and it sure is one of the band’s best works yet. It is more aggressive than the last two releases and is kind of a more listener friendly brother of the Broken EP.

Trent always was a perfectionist, laboring over his final mixes with a fine-tooth comb, a belabored process that inevitably led to long gaps between albums. This can be seen in his past releases too as there are huge gaps in the middle of each release filled with live albums, remixes, some EPs here and there and collaborations. This time the gap was a long six year one and judging from what the album is, it is pretty much worth it though for someone like Trent, it could have been done in four years time.
with_teeth can be called the most accessible NIN record till date as even though it features its fare share of ear splitting havoc, the sound seems to be a bit more listener friendly and one can actually identify individual instruments. That hardly is a bad thing as this album features one of the catchiest tunes in NIN history.

The album kicks off with All The Love In The World. It’s a song which starts real slow and has got a great menacing buildup and then dumps the tension for bouncing kick drums, some heavy bass and multiple vocal harmonies. Next comes You Know What You Are? It opens with drums which sound somewhat like an attack helicopter doing what it does best and with an electronic synth line. Trent screams with full angst and hatred on this one. It later boils down to a more softer sound with a very catchy synth line before bombing the listener back with Trent screaming “DON’T YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT YOU ARE?!”
Then is The Collector. One of the darker songs present on the album. It constantly shifts from soft to heavy and is also very melodic indeed. Following it is The Hand That Feeds which perhaps is one of the most well known NIN song after Closer. It can be best described as aggressive disco pop all with rebellious lyrics.

The whole album goes similarly featuring melodies that instantly stick in your head and with a more user friendly sound. Other highlights on the album includes Love Is Not Enough which is a slow but heavy song and aggressive which is perhaps the best on the album, Everyday Is Exactly The Same, a slow and catchy song, Getting Smaller, which barrels along a breakneck pace on a weird bass line until a avalanche of heavy overdriven distorted guitars hit it and Right Where It Belongs, which one will have to listen to understand what makes it so cool. One song you should stay away from is Besides You In Time which is downright boring and annoying but the rest of the album makes up for it.

Unlike older NIN albums, the songs do not have to depend on each other to make more sense here as they can be best described as good friends of each other who do sound cool in a group but also sound good as single songs. They revolve around a bleak concept of waking up from a nightmare and accepting a new reality. Overall, with_teeth is a neat album featuring memorable songs and a more melodic and listener friendly sound. Some more experimentation would have been welcome as it seems like its depending too much on the sound derived from their older stuff, but if you want to get into NIN, this is where you start.

Rating - 4/5

Tracklisting:
1. "All the Love in the World" – 5:14
2. "You Know What You Are?" – 3:41
3. "The Collector" – 3:07
4. "The Hand That Feeds" – 3:31
5. "Love Is Not Enough" – 3:41
6. "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" – 4:54
7. "With Teeth" – 5:37
8. "Only" – 4:22
9. "Getting Smaller" – 3:35
10. "Sunspots" – 4:02
11. "The Line Begins to Blur" – 3:44
12. "Beside You in Time" – 5:24
13. "Right Where It Belongs" – 5:04