Re:Visiting : Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (1994)

On March 8th 1994, singer and multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor would release the defining record of his legendary career. An album so unique, that to this day it’s individuality still stands out as being a thoroughly timeless piece of music, blurring the genres of Industrial Metal, Alternative Rock and Electronica like no other. The Downward Spiral from Nine Inch Nails is perhaps one of the most important records from the era, or of any era within the last fifty or sixty years for that matter.

Reznor formed NIN as on outlet for the music he had been creating while also playing keyboards in the Synth-Pop outfit Exotic Birds during the late 80s, while he also worked as an engineer in a recording studio in Cleveland. The owner allowed Reznor to record his own music during the times the studio was empty, and so came NIN’s debut record – Pretty Hate Machine – released on TVT Records in 1989. Reznor would merge a Synth-Wave sound with Rock guitars and a blend of live percussion and programmed drumming. With the album finding instant success as songs including ‘Sin’ ‘Head Like A Hole’ and ‘Down In It’ – gained significant MTV and radio airtime.

NIN found their success with a style that was impossible to pigeonhole, appealing to the emerging Alternative Rock market as well as the Industrial and Goth crowds. And Reznor found himself riding the crest of a wave as his bands profile steadily rose at the start of a changing decade in music. Rebelling against their labels desire to turn NIN into a commercial entity on their follow up release, Reznor managed to break free and sign a deal with Interscope Records, who allowed him to setup his own sub-label Nothing Records – providing complete creative freedom to take the NIN in whichever direction he saw fit.

In 1992 Reznor rented and created a recording studio in the former home of film director Roman Polanski, the house in which actress Sharon Tate was murdered by members of Charles Manson’s cult. He recorded the Broken EP which was heavier with a greater use of guitars than on Pretty Hate Machine, and featured the songs ‘Happiness in Slavery’ and ‘Wish,’ which helped further enhance NIN’s fine reputation. Reznor would cite the influence of the live band he had put together, on the developing NIN sound.

Around the time NIN had finished the Lollapalooza tour in 1991, and before the recording of Broken, Reznor had started crafting early ideas for the concept of The Downward Spiral, which he would begin recording immediately after Broken in the same studio space he had christened ‘Le Pig.’ The concept album would turn into being a deeply emotional and almost autobiographical release for Reznor. He was inspired by the melancholy of David Bowie’s Low (1977), and wished to explore further the deep textures and nuances of sound that Industrial music could provide, blending heavy distorted guitars, synths and electronic elements.

Lyrically the record would convey a protagonist in an extremely dark place. Diving deep into an exploration of mental illness. addictions and depravity, A Downward Spiral comes across as a release for a tortured soul laid bare. Thematically covering the journey of a man’s self destruction – spiralling downward towards suicide. Reznor would once again work with producer Mark ‘Flood’ Ellis, while engineer Alan Moulder would mix the majority of the album. Guitarist Adrian Belew (King Crimson) and drummers Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction) and Chris Vrenna (NIN touring) would also collaborate.

The record opens with the driving Industrial rhythm and stabbing guitars of ‘Mr Self Destruct,’ with Trent spitting pure venom on the chorus, and laying down a clear lyrical tone for the album with lines like; “I am the needle in your vein, I am the high you can’t sustain … I am the bullet in the gun, and I control you!” At times the song is frenetic and chaotic, while in other moments Reznor contrasts the abrasive chaos with softer moments of dream-like melody.

The record then drops into the beautiful Dub bassline of ‘Piggy,’ as Trent soulfully croons; “Nothing can stop now, ‘cause I don’t care anymore.” As the song progresses the tone masterfully changes with the introduction of clattering percussion, before the beautiful simplicity of an endearing synth line starts a theme which musically threads throughout the whole record. Crafting a hypnotic consistency which conjoins the individual songs like they are all pieces of a puzzle.

‘Heresy’ opens with an electronic 4/4 beat and a prominant synth which initially sounds Pretty Hate Machine era. But the chorus drops in with heavy guitars once again and Trent sings the immortal line; “God is dead, and no-one cares. If there is a hell … I’ll see you there!” First single “March of the Pigs’ is unquestionably one of the most recognisable NIN songs, and opens with a driving percussive rhythm and a synthetic Dub bass. Heavy and abrasive in the verse, the song progresses through to an iconic pre-chorus built around a pulsating Techno beat, before a piano drops and Reznor asks us; “Now doesn’t it make you feel better?”

The other big single from the record is ‘Closer,’ opening with a Tech-House beat and a bubbling synth bass. Reznor channels a gothic and seedy S&M vibe with the highly controversial chorus proclaiming; “I want to fuck you like an animal. I want to feel you from the inside … You bring me closer to god.” Half way through, a long instrumental section beautifully builds with a swirling distorted guitar, before merging into ‘Ruiner’ – another classic slice of progressive and heavy Industrial-Rock. Disintegrating into a sumptuous isolated bass line, and a distorted guitar solo with a Blues soaked tone. Which is all quintessential NIN!

‘The Becoming’ provides a delicious electro intro with Trent soulfully crooning once again. Slowly building the chaos and culminating with harsh Industrial robotics. ‘I Do Not Want This’ is deeply textured with an abundance of samples, before juxtaposing the light and the dark as heavy guitars hit the chorus and Trent screams; “Don’t you tell me how I feel!” The song experiments with a mirage of Industrial soundscapes while delivering another fine vocal with; “I want to know everything, I want to be everywhere. I want to fuck everyone in the world. I want to do something that matters.”

‘Big Man With A Gun’ provides a sleazy 90 second Industrial-Metal romp, while contrastingly ‘A Warm Place’ is dream-like with ethereal synths. Providing a lush cinematic soundscape as Reznor foreshadows his later career work in collaborating on film scores with the likes of David Lynch (Lost Highway) and David Fincher (The Social Network). As this epic record draws to a close, ‘Eraser’ provides a further clanking rhythm, and ‘Reptile’ a harsher industrial landscape – proto Dup-Step in pace, dark and sinister with the vocal line; “She spreads herself wide open, to let the insects in.”

‘The Downward Spiral’ brings the record full circle, culminating with a climax of the running instrumental theme, before providing a weird and contorted sound to the production. The album then closes out with ‘Hurt’ – a beautiful slice of acoustic melancholy, in which a sweet tenderness in Trent’s voice perfectly compliments a delicate acoustic guitar. This is a tremendously emotional finalé to the album, and a song which would find a second wind nearly a decade later when covered by Country music legend Johnny Cash.

A Downward Spiral is a body of work seeping in experimentation, with an unparalleled nuance even to this day some thirty years later. There is a deep complexity in the songwriting of Trent Reznor throughout the album, as he perfectly blends Industrial Rock, with Metal, Noise, Drone and an overall sombre ambience that is pretty much a perfect work of art. And with a record that debuted at No.2 on the Billboard charts (behind Soundgarden’s Superunknown) – which has sold over 4 million copies to date – Reznor would help shape the alternative musical landscape. KZ

Words by Abstrakt_Soul