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Filed under: Electronic Musicians, Free Music, Music Reviews
Nine Inch Nails is riding high on the publicity of its heavily hyped Ghosts I-IV release and is capitalizing on that buzz with a new free album release, The Slip. It’s available exclusively as a free download, but physical releases are in the works.
There’s a 2008 Nine Inch Nails Tour coming up this fall, and it’s clear that NIN’s using the The Slip as a promo to build interest in its upcoming tour.
“Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one’s on me,” says Trent Reznor, and a fine thank you it is. While Ghosts I-IV (see our review) was an interesting (and successful) experiment, The Slip is a full-bore Nine Inch Nails album.
The album is a mix of environmental/ambient tracks & rockers, with a piano ballad thrown in for good measure.
The Slip gets off to a slow start with 999,999, an ambient track that sounds a bit Eraserhead industrial noise, and wouldn’t have been out of place on the Ghosts I-IV release. It quickly morphs into 1,000,000, a straight-ahead NIN rocker. It’s as blistering as anything NIN has done.
NIN keeps things moving with Letting You, and the more dance oriented Discipline. Discipline has sort of a post-disco feel, and ends with the sort of combined verse + chorus that Paul McCartney honed to a science with his 70’s Wings releases. Except this one is about needing Discipline.
Echoplex didn’t do much for me - we’ve heard all the sounds and themes before from NIN. Maybe a remix could help this one.
Head Down moves things back into hardcore NIN territory. It sounds like Reznor is running the drums through one of Metasonix’ bizarro tube distortion units. Wailing guitars, shouted choruses and alternating loud/soft sections turn this into a likely concert anthem.
Lights in the Sky is the piano ballad I mentioned earlier. It’s an attractive track, despite the crappy out of tune piano and despite the fact that Reznor has a relatively weak voice. The track works because it’s intimate and raw - you feel like you’re sitting next to Reznor as he sings it.
Lights in the Sky blends into Corona Radiata - which is one of the highlights of the album. It’s a simple ambient drone piece, but it’s really gorgeous. The first half of it wouldn’t have been out of place on Brian Eno’s Ambient 4: On Land. The second half gets a slow, distorted beat that feels like an irresistible force.
The Four of Us are Dying is another gorgeous track - but this time it’s gorgeous industrial noise. The track has a drum machine line that kicks it off and that runs through it, over which mellow, but powerful guitar and synth lines are woven.
The album finishes off with Demon Seed, a tight, clean rocker. It builds to a massive climax, dies away to almost nothing, and then comes back for another minute of rocking out. It’s a satisfying end to the album.
Overall, NIN’s new release The Slip is an excellent release. It delivers all the things you expect from NIN, it builds on their last release, Ghosts I-IV, and it even has some a couple of tracks that are likely to burn up some air time.
In addition to being a great free release, The Slip is released with a Creative Commons license - which means you can share the album with your friends, put it in your podcast or remix it. And, since you’re my friend, I’ve got one of the highlights of release, 1,000,000, available for you to download below.
You can download The Slip via the NIN site. Email registration is required. The album is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. All downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.
42 Responses to “First Review Of Nine Inch Nails’ The Slip”
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FIRST!! lol had to
good review really on point, except for echoplex i thought that was a good track. excellent album though
my god it sucks. Its the end, the END. We all have our opinions and such, but damn, I haven’t been this disappointed by a group or artist I loved since….ever……damn it!!
great review… altho i don’t really care for Head Down
I downloaded this to check it out, but it sucked even for a free CD. Straight to the trash after one listen.
Not sure what anybody sees in these guys - they can’t sing and the music all sounds the same.
The Slip is a great album. NIN has yet to disappoint me. Year Zero is one of my most favorite albums of all time (along side of Tool’s Lateralus). I can’t wait for even more. Next year we will celebrate 20 years of NIN in style, bring it on!
i don’t understand why some of you chose to bitch and moan about the record. i, personally, loved it.
of course you jerk, you made it.
Some of the tracks were actually disappointing.
Trent is a musical genius, but the lyrics aren’t that good in this album.
Then again, it’s 100% free, and it was made in like what? 10 days? ha
I bet that the live versions of these songs are going to be much better than the album ones.
How could you not like Echoplex? Its dark and danceable. I didn’t like some of the songs U did, it sounded too much like 1000 Homo DJs but overall a really good effort.
Ugh, was this awful. Coming across as a kind of With Teeth retread, it is the closest industrial will ever get to elevator music. Little to no variations in song structure, weak vocals, and even weaker lyrics. It really was just entirely terrible. Far and away the worst thing I have ever heard NIN do. It’s a real shame, because I was expecting some kind of revival with Year Zero. Guess that was short-lived.
none of you know what real music is, this is genius
“Not sure what anybody sees in these guys - they can’t sing and the music all sounds the same.”
You sound like my granddad.
If you like NIN you might be interested in the album I just finished last month. It is also available free, donations are accepted. We are also doing a name your own price CD (starting at cost price). Politics Apocalypse is political and subversive post-industrial rock with an interesting mix of classical instruments, guitars, electronic beats, and a small dash of aussie hip-hop. You can download the whole 11 track album at no cost at our website.
http://www.politicsapocalypse.com
Ah, critics. Cheerfully bashing the creative work of people who make music for a living. Say what you like, guys, NIN are living their dreams and we’re LISTENING to them do it. NIN gets the last laugh here.
One difference in the editions (currently anyway) is that the 24 bit / 96 kHz version comes with 1200×1200 images of the artwork used for the PDF. Of course you need to download 1 GB to get that bonus….
it’s slightly mad:D i love it!
This wasn’t so much of a review as a summary. NIN has departed from the TDS and PHM in a big way, which sucks if you were huge fans of them.
the new stuff may be what the band feels they need to do creatively, but it is not what many fans expect from NIN at all. it is too poppy, the lyrics seem rushed and it has none of the edge that we expect. even as late as the fragile songs were being released that knocked you back and made you feel something. the transitions throughout the cd, the different moods and emotions that came through made the cd’s masterpieces. each song not only stood up on it’s own, but the whole album was a story in itself.
now we have two releases (im being very kind to with teeth) that are nothing more than twelve uninspired songs. it would be far kinder to the older fans of NIN if they just buried the name and released this new stuff as a side project.
nin is a progression from its inception to now, so if u want the same stuff(and im talking to all the hardcore downward spiral worshippers) you will be disapointed, because the reality is, people grow and change and learn. why would u expect any less from an artist like trent? i would be more inclined to judge someone who hasnt grown since 1994, and hasnt quite been able to grasp that all of us out here arent spraying out anger and pent up rage like back then, then to examine in ignorance whats happening now with both nails and us as a culture. the music is a reflection of it. my advice, listen ot the old stuff until u finally get it, then move on, eventually you will grow up : ) good luck!
All you music critics try playing the same style and tunes for almost 20 years and see how passionate you are about the music. Mr Reznor is a talented musician and continues to keep his music interesting while also have time to produce. If you PHM and TDS fans love them albums so much get a room lock yourself in a shut up NIN is what it is now and isn’t going back to TDS or PHM so get over it
nate, in buffalo?
Trent Reznor is not a rock star, he is an artist. his music always drives me to step up in the creative world especially with the album “The Fragile”. All his albums are great. It’s great that his music has changed so much. Much of his newer music is less accessible than before. I think he has done a good job weeding out his fans ever since “The Fragile”. As his music evolves so does his fans. He’ll only have the more open minded crowd as fans in the end. The ones who don’t really care about how heavy or how catchy the music is but ones who are concerned about how much more creative and ambitious he has become.
this is what broken should have been.
also, i’m one of those ‘downward spiral worshippers.’ and this album is awesome. the V0 version sounds the worst though, for sure.
Some people will complain about anything. Its a free album..
If trent was still making albums like the fragile (as awesome as it is) we’d be bored by now. Its not the 90’s anymore..
Anyway, you just know some of these tracks are going to kick off live
For a free album, “The Slip” is pretty good. Most of the songs were enjoyable, but Echoplex was the best on there i thought. Still, i would like to hear some new material that is similar to TDS and The Fragile. Still, The Slip was a good album, and i’ll be buying it on CD when it comes out.
as much as i love NINs other albums (the fragile espescially), this one just dissapoints me. theres no more emotion or feeling, its just one track after another using the same drum loops and synth sounds. the only track that really caught my attention was lights in the sky, and even that was a half-ass version of “hurt” or “zero sum.” as much as i hate to say, i think trent was more creative while he was depressed and on drugs. now he doesnt know what to write about, and the lyrics and music really suffer. hopefully trent didnt use all his effort on this one considering the short release time, and his next cd will have some meaning to it
s’ok, same old trancey umph-tiss ud come to expect from nin nowadays
I am someone who loved PHM and TDS. I will admit this freely. They both easily make my list of top 100 albums. However, I really like that Trent has chosen to allow his music to evolve instead of sticking with the same formula that he knows to work. I think that it takes cohones to change a sound which many people live and die by but I think that it works. I can’t wait to hear where he goes from here
I heard about the free album and figured what they hey i’ll download it even after being very disappointed in the Ghosts album i figured i’m sure trent has something up his sleeve. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. This album is terrible. It sounds like all trent did was recycle songs he thought were too crappy to put on any of his last 3 albums and made a free album out of them to try to entice people to come see NIN live. I doubt i’ll ever burn this album to a CD. Alot of the songs had the same old sound as other songs off his last 3 “real” albums just done in a very subpar manner. His voice has really taken a beating over the years as well. His voice use to really hit home now it just sounds tired and used up. I won’t even start on the lyrics….
Fuckin’ awesome. Personally, there is no greater free CD. As a musician, it gives me all sorts of ideas. Melodies, harmonies, beats. Just a plain good time for me.
JSkY
obviously everyone has different feelings and thoughts and there is no way you can ever get everyone to like what you have to say. i, personally, love nearly everything trent has ever done, esp. the Quake soundtrack, songs that aren’t released on main albums(”the perfect drug”, “black bomb”, “burn”, “deep”…), and his other ambient works.
he’s been releasing his ambient stuff(ghostsI-IV, half of The Slip) lately and i like that.
while i can agree some of the lyrics on The Slip could have possibly been a tad better he’ll make up somewhere else. you’ve got to changte up your style a little bit or else you get old. go listen to ministry if you want to hear the same guitar loop for a half an hour.
P.S. whoever wrote this review needs to listen again: “echoplex” and “lights in the sky” are the two best songs on the album, followed by “head down”. “letting you” got on my nerves and i’m not as impressed by “corona radiata” as everyone else but it will probably grow on me.
ok i will spill my mustard over this wall:
while i feel, mr reznor has found peace in his life, i feel the music has lost some bite. maybe i am getting old, but it seems it had purpose up to (and including) the fragile, but afterwards it became some sort of a job, which he still executes with bravour, but i miss the blood and the guts.
While Year 0 and even Ghosts were both amazing, this new album has proven that Trent needs to slow down a bit. As a free album, it’s great. But he’s right in not charging people for it.
i have to admit it isnt the greatest thing that trent has produced, but its is so hard for him to continualy creating great albums after another with the reputation he has. and at least he isnt producing the sam old shit over and over agin like top twenty bands, hes just being creatively different, i quess you could think that he has started his carrer again starting from year zero and hopefully his new direction will develop into something great
A great ablum that just keeps building and building. The flctuation between the heavy tracks, the ‘radio-friendly’ Discipline, the more experimental tracks like EchoPlex, the paino driven Lights and the last two tracks is a joy to hear, so different from all the bullshit that comes out of radio and the charts.
To that person who said all the music sounds the same, you could get a job as a reviewer at Pitchfork Media since like them, you clearly don’t actually listen to the music you’re talking about.
Of course I love the whole thing but while I don’t normally pick faults with Trent’s work (I don’t question genius) I did feel that 3 instrementals was just one too many after Ghosts, Corona Radiata should have had vocals, even hushed ones like in The Greater Good or The New Flesh.
Lights gets me everytime, it reminds me alot of the title track from The Fragile which was my favorite song off that album.
While it’s still not Year Zero part 2 it’s a great surprise and such a radical change after Ghosts and FREE with lyrics and great artwork.
Trent is a true artist ( which there aren’t many around anymore ) so if you don’t appreciate it then thats just fine w/ me b/c art is something that not everyone can appreciate the same way. I, as a loyal fan for about 15 years, applaud Trent for the growth in his music and creativity in giving the fans more than what is expected from a “band”, which they really are not. While I don’t consider myself a dark or gloomy person I cant help but listen to his music everyday and be completely happy and introspective at the same time. By the way, The Slip is awesome from beginning to end.
I think the reason so many people have a problem with this is two-fold. 1). it’s free and people have a tendency to think that they’re getting the leftovers when something’s free. 2). Trent has either been in a prolific phase or we’re just getting B-sides. Songs that didn’t make the cut with Year Zero. That’s nothing something that’s actually true in this case. I fully believe, intellectually, that Trent put as much energy into making The Slip as he did Year Zero, but our stupid consumer based minds are trained to think that if something is 1)FREE and 2)Released very soon (esp. when trent usually takes like 4 decades between albums) that it’s a bunch of crap. I like the album. It is growing on me with each listen the way a good album should.
(edit) 5th sentence in on my comment should say “That’s NOT something …” instead of “That’s NOTHING something …” which makes no sense.
NIN set the bar so friggin’ high with TDS, ever since then he’s been caught between topping TDS and reinventing himself. With this latest release on the heels of Ghosts, he’s decided to split the difference. Is The Slip NIN’s best work to date? No. But like Ghosts, it points to an aesthetic evolution in his music that I find to be both refreshing and challenging. It’s got its moments, it’s free (how can you beat that?) and it definitely keeps me interested in seeing what new ground he chooses to explore in his next release.
ok i admit it some of the track werent good but hey what do you expect its free btw only 3 tracks sucked the rest rocked
I don’t know if it’s the same with you… each time a new NIN album comes out, im exited to the maximum, and when I first hear it, it sucks. The second time, it sucks even more. The third time, I get it and I realize that it is a great as any other NIN album. I guess some of the haters and flamers and “disappointed hardcore fans” didn’t even take the time for a third listen before they went here to make a this-is-the-end-of-nin-post.
(To be honest, with Ghost I-IV it took 5 or 6 times till I liked it, and after the 20th time I got bored again, but hey, this is NOT THE end, as we know now)
Hi Trent. *waves*
Well, I just want to say this: I bought Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins, and then I found The Slip and downloaded it. The Slip reminded me more of In Rainbows, which I thought Radiohead did a great job on. Especially considering that it was free to download as well (although I did pay about $24.00 for it).
The thing I noticed very quickly is that MUSIC THAT DOESN’T SUCK is being given away for free. Meanwhile, the formerly good bands are now putting out awful music and expecting you to pay for it.
So, to reiterate: If you see good music out there, snap it up… Chances are, it will stand up to repeated plays and possibly become integrated into the background of your daily life. By contrast: if you see an album that costs 14.99… RUN!!! More likely than not, it will suck out loud, you will feel cheated, and you’ll never trust the concept of paying for music again, which means that you probably won’t even give my albums the once-over. Due to the bad rap DRM and traditional music business models, I have to ROT in a CONVENIENCE STORE every damn day of my life instead of getting paid to do what I love, which is making music and being compensated for my creativity.
To that end, it’s probably too late for me. That said, I wish the rest of you luck (or the closest thing to it), and urge you to make music for the artistic value of it, and NOT THE MONEY.
Thanks,
Pram Maven
Is it just me, or do NIN have the most immature fan following of any band? Sure, NIN have produced some great material. The Downward Spiral and The Fragile were superb albums. But this new online release is absolute horse-shit (echoplex, your least favourite track is probably the best track on the album oddly enough). I’m getting sick of those myopic NIN fans who worship Trent like some kind of occult god. And don’t even get me started on Last.FM charts… it seems like the sole purpose of some people’s existence is to get the worst album of the year up the charts.
For the record I don’t hate NIN. Like I said, The Fragile and The Downward Spiral are truly great albums. Bands do grow old and tire out and run out of ideas musically. Yes what Trent is doing to change the landscape of the current music listening model is innovative, but the music seems to have suffered as a result of Trent being too preoccupied with trying to challenge the industry.
PS - I wonder if trent released and album of random fart loops, how many NIN fans would hail it as an ‘artistic master-piece’.