The Fragile [Import]

I see the value and work into this album, but to me it's 'accessibility' lessens it's profundity. it is pop-synth. don't get me wrong, this album accomplishes what it seemingly intends, and has it's place. but I hope the artist who gave us "the downward spiral" doesn't continue in this direction, I hope simply for my personal like of the previous efforts as contrasting this one.

the fault I see, is mainly, repetitiousness; the chorus' the beats, the rhythm. this album builds itself on a series of 'hooks', though good 'hooks', are still a very tight-knit pattern which allows little room for sonic deviance of the kind you'd expect on an 'industrial' album. I'm a fan of distortion, the aesthetic of noise; beauty from 'chaos', areas with no time signatures (following in the tradition Igor Stravinsky & the like). once you know the layers of sound, they are monotonous in themselves. they have a identity of themselves, but that's their problem, they are finite, squarely defined, unlike the broad open field that his second full-length album posed; which made one have to struggle for familiarity in it's composition. The Fragile gives you familiarity on the first listen because of the nature of it's song structure.

however, the instrumentals seem to have enough variance, and are exempt from most of my former judgements. my personal favorite tracks excluding those would have to be 'The way out is through' (though short and semi-instrumental), 'I'm looking forward to joining you, finally', 'We're in this together' & 'The day the world went away'.

all the comments which he gave to precede the release of 'the fragile' seemed to be very accurate by my perception ("pop", "hip-hop influenced", "softer") and I anticipated my disappointment around those lines, finding the base 'feel' to be true to his statements (the reason I did not purchase it right away). this gives me hope, however, for his next album probably due in mid-2004 at latest, which he has described as a raw & abrasive open minimalism, opposite to the highly structured production of the fragile.

If there is one thing I can compliment Nine Inch Nails on, it is the ability to create vastly different style albums around the same concepts & genre. if anything, the fragile will be a nice contrast to the rest of his work, while no album is a singular progression into a particular style, only a progression of skill at composition. from the statements about 'the fragile' and his opinion of where his music is leading him, I'd wish as much production and layering in whatever he created that could be inclusive to a wider beadth within each & every song instead of having to scrap that to reach an opposite effect. the strong point of the fragile is it's production, it's weak point the overuse of little aspects within that production. that doesn't make a devil out of it's fine-tuning, it just wasn't brought to the specific complexity that was needed to bring it to the level of being an answer to The Downward Spiral. it's tracks had general complexity instead of a collection of specific complexities as TDS had for it's tracks. maybe both ends of these extremes can be used down the line to create something with the virtues of both.

I see the appeal & place of this album, but it doesn't sit well on my individual palate because of my search for the 'aquired' musical taste; dissonance that appreciates with time. for all who are not such connoisseurs, it is highly recomended.

this album does not contain the same trent reznor that was present in downward spiral, broken, pretty hate machine, etc.
i cant really describe it outside of its nine inch nails meets radiohead. beautiful.

the last track on the first cd "the great below" is beautiful. not loud, not angry, not angst-ridden... jus... beautiful. as is "la mer" and a bunch of other tunes on this album.

well im going to wrap this up, cuz i cant say anything that hasnt been said in the 900+ other reviews here.
jus let me leave you with this: if youre a teenager, and have some anger to get out, pick up "broken" or "the downward spiral"... if youre ready to get out of the mad at the world feeling, and need someone to help you stand back up, this is your album. this album has made a mark on my life. as it should have.