VARIOUS ARTISTS / Natural Born Killers (1994)

As you'd expect, NBK is a collection of songs from different artists. But unlike most film soundtracks, there's been some actual thought and care put into structuring them. Custom edits and audio clips from the film itself are used often to connect tracks into a more story-style structure than is usually the case.
It was compiled by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who referred to it as a "collage of sound," which I guess is as good a description as any. It's the kind of thing many of us used to do back when all we had was a double tapedeck and a VHS collection.
Don't judge it solely on my choice of songs (below), there are a variety of styles on offer from many different musical eras.

Songs of Note: Cowboy Junkies / Sweet Jane (Edit); Nine Inch Nails / Something I Can Never Have (Edited and Extended)

4½ warm, violent places out of 5

TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS / The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

If ever proof was needed that film/music awards are nothing but public masturbation for the artists and industry, then this is it. It's a 173 min 34 sec soundtrack to a 158 min film and I felt every second of that running time go by.
The film was unnecessary. The score is almost unlistenable. Not because it's ambient or drone, I generally like that kind of thing, but because it's uninspired and monotonous. Upping the volume helps to hide the inherent emptiness, but the tedium is inescapable. Some of the track titles sum up the listening experience perfectly: I Can't Take it Anymore; The Same as the Others; The Sound of Forgetting; and the best one of all, The Seconds Drag.

Songs of Note: You're Here; Great Bird of Prey

1 urge to toss it out the window out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Ghosts I – IV (2008)

The sixth NIN studio album is almost entirely instrumental. It's a work that needs abstract analogies to define it. I'm not going to attempt to provide any such thing because they'll likely be different for everyone who hears it. The music is like a soundtrack to whatever fleeting thought your mind conjures when it's given free rein to do so, so as you listen you'll create the meaning yourself.
It's split into four parts with nine tracks apiece. There's a specific mood to each of the four parts but they're malleable and can be made to fit the listener's own ideals and anxieties. With thirty-six tracks on offer (or thirty-eight if you get the expensive edition and reconstruct the extra two from the multi-track files provided) it's hard to pick just two as examples, but try these on for size:

Songs of Note: 08 Ghosts I; 13 Ghosts II

4 macro lenses out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Fixed (1992)

I've used Fixed to clear a room. I'm not kidding. I also love it, so will be as biased as I can while reviewing it. It contains tracks from the Broken E.P. (1992) remixed by such luminaries as Coil, Butch Vig, and J. G. Thirlwell; all of whom do their best to hide something interesting inside something chaotic.
The first half is recognisable as music, but the latter half goes off the rails and offers up some harsh fragments (and Bob Flanagan having his bits tortured) that require repeated exposure to find any kind of rhythm in.
Far from being a misnomer, Fixed puts right the feelings that inspired Broken because it's born from the freedom to do what the artist wants.

Songs of Note: Gave Up; Wish

4 smashed pieces out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Broken (1992)

Broken is an angry, audible 'Fuck You!' to the stifling conventions of the music business. It's the sound of Trent Reznor the commodity hating on the people that want him to make money for them. Ironically, it went on to make a lot of money, but it also saw NIN turn from being Depeche Mode-friendly to kicking it with the Industrial big league. It wasn't just PHM with distortion, it was a whole new NIN sound that, two years later, once the anger had subsided, would further develop into one of the best albums the genre ever produced.

Songs of Note: Wish; Happiness in Slavery

5 devils of truth out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Hesitation Marks (2013)

The return of NIN was something that I anticipated greatly, but when it came it came with disappointment. Trent was happily married and rich, so he'd very little to whine about any more. Consequently, lyrically it skims still waters while trying to remain as close to the deeper NIN formula as possible.
The music attempts a similar kind of compromise. Amid the complex layering there's some Pretty Hate Machine, some The Fragile, some With Teeth, and even some of his soundtrack work in the second half. Structurally the album tries hard to make each of those eras into one cohesive whole, but it comes out sounding bland and fatigued. It's telling and slightly ironic that the highlight (Everything) is the one that's the happiest sounding of all.

Songs of Note: Came Back Haunted; Everything

2½ imprinted echoes out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / The Slip (2008)

The Slip does what the majority of NIN albums do: it mixes the angry and the serene, and after repeated listens it's the serene tracks that prove to have the most depth musically and emotionally. It adheres to a mostly paint-by-numbers formula, but at least none of those numbers are (Year) Zero.
It should satisfy fans temporarily, but there are a few stand-out tracks that make owning it very worthwhile. Get it for FREE at the official site.

Songs of note: Echoplex; Lights in the Sky

3 that got away out of 5

PIGFACE / Welcome to Mexico... Asshole (1992)

The first proper Pigface live album sounds more like a bootleg and it's clearly cobbled together from different performances over different nights, but it has an energy and a schizophrenic appeal that makes it worthwhile.
Martin Atkins plays on most tracks. Chris Connelly and Bill Rieflin feature prominently. You also get Ogre, Trent Reznor, Paul Raven, Dave Ogilvie, etc. Everyone brings their own style and there didn't seem to be any limitation placed on improvisation, so it makes for an interesting listening experience.

Songs of Note: Blood and Sand; Weightless

3 wrong fucking centuries out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / [WITH_TEETH] (2005)

[WITH_TEETH] is the most accessible, radio-friendly album that Reznor has made yet. Lyrically, it takes a familiar dip into self-loathing existentialism, but on the surface it's bright and airy, with happy drums and inoffensive distortion.
After repeated spins a large part of it gets tiresome to listen to, but there are just enough moments of beauty and strength rising above the safety net to make a purchase worthwhile. It's like a NIN starter kit for the kids.

Songs of Note: Every Day is Exactly the Same; Sunspots

3 elaborate dreams out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Year Zero Remixed (2007)

Or Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D, if you prefer the leet-ness, is, unsurprisingly, a collection of remixed tracks from the Year Zero album that was released just seven months prior. It fulfilled contractual commitments that NIN had to Interscope Records. They wanted another album and they got it. Trent gave them a turd. If I hated my record label, I'd probably want to do the same, but that doesn't make me cringe any less when hearing it. It offers an even less enjoyable listening experience than the original album, and lacks any kind of cohesive flow.

Songs of Note: The Great Destroyer (remixed by Modwheelmood); Another Version of the Truth (remixed by Kronos Quartet & Enrique Gonzalez Müller)

1 shiny beer mat out of 5

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS / An Omen EP (2012)

An Omen is a listless composition from a band that, in trying to distance themselves from the modified NIN sound of the previous E.P., have settled for loop-based emptiness, with little other than the promise of a pay-off to sustain interest. I waited and waited, but the pay-off didn't come.
Reznor is a master of deconstruction, but when putting the separate parts back together again he appears to have lost some of them, and arguably forgotten to use any kind of glue. There's nothing cohesive beneath the surface.

Songs of Note: On the Wing; The Loop Closes

2 layers of apathy out of 5

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS / How to Destroy Angels EP (2010)

HtDA is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, with Mariqueen Maandig on vocals. Reznor plays it safe most of the time, sticking to what he knows best, which translates to a mix of NIN's own Ghosts (2008) album, albeit with the addition of female vocals, the drone of The Fragile (1999) and the production of With Teeth (2005); the Fur Lined track could fit easily on the latter. The quieter moments, particularly the E.P's closing track, with its haunting piano, are to me the most interesting additions. It's not the departure from NIN that was promised, but it's free from the official site, so, if you're a NIN fan, it's certainly worth a punt.

Songs of Note: The Space in Between; A Drowning

3½ closed narratives out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Further Down the Spiral (1995)

FDtS is a remix album featuring songs from The Downward Spiral (1994) in various guises and states of deconstruction. Some are chaotic, resembling the original with extra layers of electronic distortion and intensity, while others get wedded to dance beats that aren't as lazy or awful as it sounds in words. If you're familiar with TDS, then you'll be picking out recognisable moments, and engaging or scratching your head at new ones. It's a hypnotic deluge of fractured emotions that's impossible for me to define accurately.
The US version has a number of different tracks than the rest of the world, and vice versa. I own both but prefer the non-US version.

Songs of Note: Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now); Hurt (Live)

3½ experiments in self-destruction out of 5

SAUL WILLIAMS / The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! [2007]

After numerous remixes of each other's music, it was inevitable that alt. hip-hop poet Saul Williams and Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor would work on an original project together. The result is Williams' 2007 album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!

Williams' heavy beats & off-kilter vocal style and Reznor's unmistakable ambient wall of noise compliment each other perfectly, making it one of Reznor's most focused projects in several years.  The distorted sound is so dense and raw it reminiscent of the Bomb Squad's production with Public Enemy back in the day.

It's a bizarre album that is difficult to pinpoint what sort of audience it was aiming for but nonetheless an experimental success. 

5 Dead Emcee Scrolls out of 5

Songs Of Note: Tr(n)igger; The Ritual

NINE INCH NAILS / Pretty Hate Machine (2010 Remaster)

NIN’s debut (originally released in 1989) is all about mood. The simplistic construction can be torn apart very easily. It's built around minimalist synth, simplistic drum patterns, layered with electronic bass and occasional rock guitar. But that's semantics; the album is more than the sum of its parts. What really defines it is the dark angst that gains its strength from its stark honesty.
The 2010 remaster breathes new life into the ageing production. Without sacrificing too much in contrast, the bass gets a much-needed boost. It's naturally louder (because it's a modern remaster), but it seems also more purposeful, enabling the drums and synth to be rescued from the doldrums they were forced to exist in. I never enjoyed it on CD (I owned it on vinyl) but now I can.

Songs of Note: Head Like a Hole; Terrible Lie

4½ whispered confessions out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Year Zero (2007)

Year Zero is dark, like peering through a smoky looking glass. It’s also dense and overly-layered, making it almost impenetrable. Interestingly, it lacks the introspective musings that NIN usually offer up; instead, it's a concept album… religious/political nonsense… America…year 2022, etc. Boring. It's noisy and frustrating; you could argue that so was Broken (1992), but at least it was focussed and knew when to stop. YZ goes on forever, dragging me into a state of sensory ennui. Some rehashed riffs from The Fragile (1999) excite briefly before being lost in the maelstrom. A few tracks stand out like pillars of light from the flat landscape. It's a manifesto, and it's not something I can fall in love with.

Songs of Note: In This Twilight; Zero Sum

2½ (I'll push the goddamn button myself) out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / The Downward Spiral (1994)

I'm going to eschew the usual semi-objective formula and indulge myself fully. The Downward Spiral is one of the greatest albums of the 90s. It's noisy. It's beautiful. It's textured. It's multifaceted and multilayered - you'll be hearing things on your 50th listen that you hadn't heard before. It's a concept album in which each song is like a piece of jigsaw puzzle; when the picture is complete it's a darkened mirror that both entices and frightens. It has insect noises. It has film samples. It's the perfect example of creativity born from negativity given form. The production is amazing. It sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

Songs of Note: March of the Pigs; The Becoming

5 scabs out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / The Fragile (1999)

A double album of two very distinct halves. The first disc plays like a concept album, it's moody and initially impenetrable but rewards repeated listens; it's a winter flower that slowly opens to reveal hidden beauty (if you can accept the notion that personal demons are a kind of beauty). It's full of the fuzzy guitar sound that people associate with NIN, but there's much more to it than that, it's layered throughout with hooks and a deep resonating bass that pumps like a slow, pained heartbeat. The second disc is more akin to a collection of songs, obvious singles and is much less interesting - it's for people with a shorter attention span.

Songs of Note: The Wretched; La Mer

5 pilgrimages to the great below out of 5

NINE INCH NAILS / Still (2002)

Still is a stripped-back acoustic session of mostly old Nine Inch Nails songs played on piano, guitar, synth and drums. It's intimate, haunting and occasionally intense; often sounding like the band is playing in your front room. It has one new track not available elsewhere, but it's the achingly beautiful renditions of fan-favourites that really make it worthwhile. Trent is nearly always whining about something, but here it sounds like a cathartic release, not an angry tirade.
If you're a NIN fan and don't have it already, then it’s an essential addition to your collection. It can only be purchased from the NIN website, but is well worth it.

Songs of Note: Something I Can Never Have; The Fragile

5 heartfelt moments of anguish and tranquillity out of 5