Nine Inch Nails

Five years in creation, this two-disc album is even more uncompromising than its predecessors. There are no radio edits or anything remotely close to catchy. It's a solid expression of passion and fury, as run through Industrial and metal lifelines. With this record, Trent Reznor has upped the ante once again for fans of despair, electronics and violence.

The last time Trent Reznor set out to shock the world, he had an easier job. It's been five
years since the Nine Inch Nails auteur dropped The Downward Spiral, crunching punk and
goth and Depeche Mode and God knows what else into the diary of a teenage death-disco
vampire. He had a shocking sound, trampling over dance beats with machine screams
fierce and funny enough to kill off the entire "industrial" genre in one stroke. Bu... More >

After six f*cking years, genius-by-acclamation Trent Reznor delivers double-hoohah, every second remixed till it glistens like broken glass on a prison wall. Is the way he takes his petty pain out on the world a little, er, immature for a guy who's pushing 35? Never mind, I'm told--just immerse in the music. So I do. "Dream job: emperor," it says. "More fun than death by injection." (Grade - B)