NINE INCH NAILS | THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL
The Downward Spiral is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man from his spiral into suicide. It’s not for light listening as it’s themes of nihilism conjure up feelings of self-abuse and self-control. The madness that Trent Reznor creates arches a descent into madness that deals with religion, dehumanization, violence, disease, society, drugs and sex. This was teen angst at its most frightening.
Reznor mixes elements of techno, electronic, hard rock, and heavy metal to create an industrial atmosphere that fires out bullets of disaffection. The album is heavily dissonant but dusted with melody and harmony which softens the blow each song delivers. The textures and moods on the album illustrate the demise of its central protagonist and the album plays like a long and uncomfortable scream from a nearby mental institution. In the song “Hurt’, the dissonant tritone on the word “I” completely captures the broken spirit of self-destructive tendencies in a pure beauty that is still unparalleled.
Aggressive where it needs to be, it also paints its corners with solemnity and exposes the cracks inside our deepest realms. When the angelic piano breaks free from the corrosion in “March Of The Pigs” it feels like a breath of fresh air, only to be pushed back into the pit seconds later. It’s an album about pain and healing that reveals the visceral rawness of our open wounds.
The mixed media album cover is made of plaster, acrylics, oils, rusted metals, insects, moths, blood, wax, varnishes, and surgical bandaging. It’s a rare canvas of art that represent the layers of the music within. It successfully broadened Reznor’s audience and brought abrasive industrial rock to the mainstream.
The album isn’t shy on melody which is what sets NIN apart from much of the heavy electro-industrial groups like Ministry and Nitzer Ebb. Considering one of Johnny Cash’s greatest legacies was his cover of “Hurt”, it’s easy to see how important Reznor’s melodies are in spite of the acidic distorted-laced instrumentation. It is in the delicate shadows of this song that resonates as the ultimate suicidal lament. Broken, defeated, and nearly out of energy the singer reaches for his last reserve of bitterness and ache to declare “You can have it all, my empire of dirt, I will let you down, I will make you hurt.” What’s left in the wake of this song is just the collapsed midnight of the soul. Cash’s version was arguably even more potent reflecting back on his legacy of a country star only to be days away from his deathbed, looking back saying “If I could start again a million miles away, I would keep myself, I would find away.”
The album strongly appeals to an audience who have a kinship to depression, death, and destruction in their own lives. The fact that it was so widely recognized in the mainstream alternative market is a testament to how many of us are wounded and searching for an experience to surface that inner turmoil.
But where “Hurt” brought the party down, the smash single “Closer” was as close to a dance-floor banger as possible, evoking imagery of sex, power, S&M, and hatred. The lyrics “I wanna f**k you like an animal was meant for every human who ever wanted to conjure their inner sexual demon to plunder the dangerous underworld of sexual depravity and testosterone.
The album lives in its own time and dimension. It feels worn in and rusted, drug-like and nihilistic. It bridged the gap between the underground hardcore fans of industrial rock and the casual radio listeners tuning into the modern rock explosion of the early 90’s. It still remains one of the most important albums of all time and Reznor’s greatest work.
2 oz rye whiskey
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz Cynar
1 teaspoon Absinthe
1/2 oz simple syrup
2 dashes orange Bitters
*Coat an empty rocks glass with absinthe, swirl then discard. Pour the other ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake vigourously. Roll contents into glass. Garnish with nothing.