Review:

on 2009-08-16 MusicGuru Said:

This is an album that I grew up on. Now, I rarely listen to it, but, it's still good to listen to every now and then. Trent put a lot of himself into this album, god damn, it shows. This is a concept album about a man with drug problems. This album showed Trent's insecurities(Closer, Big Man with a Gun and Reptile), problems with society(Piggy and March of the Pigs) and his struggles with depression(I Do Not Want This) and addiction(Mr. Self Destruct, The Becoming). This album speaks volumes to the listener. It makes abrupt changes in mood of the music, much like a person struggling with depression. In this album Trent plays the role of two people, himself, and the robot. The robot represents the drug problem that he's dealing with. The man constantly struggles with this problem and finds way of ignoring the problem with sex. This proves unsuccessful and he goes to desperate measures to destroy his problem. The man makes less and less appearances in the album as it progresse. His state of mind is becoming completely overrun by the drugs. In the end, when the man loses all hope in defeating his problem, he decides to kill it off by killing himself. This is Trent Reznor's best work and he'll never get anywhere close to the greatness of this album.
Rating: 8/10

Review:

on 2007-07-09 SolitaryMan Said:

Whatever your opinions of his music may be, you have to credit Trent Reznor with living through it, and vice-versa. I personally consider him to be a sort of modern Roger Waters, subtly pushing boundaries of what is expected from rock music. They both tend to work in concepts and take pride in their infusion of depressive yet meaningful lyrics with powerful, ecclectic songwriting. On "The Downward Spiral", Trent took inspiration from his life as a boozin' usin' rockstar and the hardships of his manic depression and created a concept reminiscient of Floyd's "The Wall", only more modernized and refined in it's delivery. Combining pop sensibilities with a more underground-industrial sound, the album hit a nerve with a wide variety of listeners and singles "Closer" and "Hurt" made the band a household name. What really made this album incredible is that the concept was so dark and disturbing as to almost guarantee it's faltering as a popular piece of media. The story of one man's descent into a life of choices he has little to no control over; whatever the reasons may be. Excuses overlap confessions of futility and guilt, creating a suffocating atmosphere that hangs heavy over the entire album. This is what makes the album, not it's singles or it's timing, not even it's fit with a whole generation of teens; it's purely the atmosphere of impending doom and unquestionable alienation. Only a select few albums have ever made their concept more felt, and the idea of the sum being greater than the parts is certainly evident here.
Rating: 9/10