With Teeth
7 out of 10
By Mike Sterry for NME on April 20, 2005
Yes, For a while Fred Durst was your Jesus, the frat-boy hysterics of Jackass were the pinnacle of your comedy and nothing could beat a night in with a few tins, a crumpled baggie of oregano and Tony Hawk.
You may have even owned a real skateboard (since pawned, a casualty to your fashion budget). You certainly owned a copy of âChocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Waterâ (since fallen behind the stereo). If this wasnât you, then we can but apologise but for a time in 2000 nu-metal was, well, cool. At least if we are to believe sales figures, or the proliferation of be-hoodâied mini-maggots across town centers to be a solid determinant of âcoolâ.
Now, we were fooled too. Weâd occasionally print things like: âKorn blow the opposition to atomsâ and how Slipknotâs âIowaâ was the album of 2001 most likely to ârestore your faith in humanityâ, rather than staring flatly that the credibility â bankrupt Slipknot were a joke taken one pickled goatâs head too far. Faced with the terror of Staind and Puddle of Mudd in the charts, it was hard to avoid the fact that almost overnight, the misery and misogyny of nu-metal had broken the mainstream. But who to blame?
Undeniably, one of the central architects of this boom in gloom was Nine Inch Nailsâ multi-instrumental demagogue â cum âproducer Trent Reznor, or âhe who bears a striking resemblance to a smudge- nosed Owen Wilson were he to own a fetish clubâ. Of course, his grim industrial soundscapes were continent apart from the ass-spanking thuggery of sports metal, but is was the quadruple-platinum âThe Downward Spiralâ, along with his work with Marilyn Manson on âAntichrist Superstarâ, that got the ball rolling for heavy musicâs gradual renaissance.
We last heard from Reznor (remix albums and soundtrack work notwithstanding) in 1999 with the release of âThe Fragileâ, which despite its overblown arrogance of itâs master was still a gross commercial success.
A dreaded double-LP, it was an album borne of the stinking self-loathing and ponderous introspection that goes hand-in-hand with substance with substance abuse. Consequently, it was shit. Comparable to a Stephen King novel, itâs vast, unparalleled sonic meandering was only saved by the occasional punctuation of extremely taut Goth-pop (see âStarfuckers Incâ).
âWith Teethâ, thankfully, is nothing like it. Itâs the album thatâs seen Reznor commit many judicious and long-overdue acts of excision, both creatively and within his private life. Left both physically and spiritually ravaged after the excesses of touring âThe Fragileâ, Reznor found himself, as many had before him, unable to go on. It was a simple case of out with the drugs and alcohol, and with the therapy. âWith Teethâ is the album after the exorcism.
Other people have always been secondary concerns in the NIN blueprint, and with the firing of long-time members Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser and hiring of Marilyn Mansonâs old bass player, Jeordie White (formerly know as Twiggy Ramirez) and the Icarus Lineâs guitarist Aaron North for his live band, you get the feeling that Reznor rarely values his collaborators above the role of mere âhelpersâ (Dr Dre was kindly allowed to assist in the mixing of âThe Downward Spiralâ).
Nine Inch Nails has always been the Trent Reznor Show. But if anythingâs an indication of Reznorâs revitalized sensibility, itâs the appearance of âWith Teethâs high-profile helper, sticks-slut for-hire Dave Grohl, who adds noticeable bombast to several tracks. Pity regular drummer/collaborator Jerome Dillon though, who has to contest with both Grohl and the drum machine for Reznorâs favours.
So, shorn of his addictionâs Reznor promised and album that was light on the instrumental ephemera that characterized his previous work, and instead heavy on melody, structure and convention. And it looks like thatâs what weâve got. It is, shudder to think, Nine Inch Nailsâ pop album. Or at least, Reznor is returning to the more song-orientated territory of âPretty Hate Machineâ. Now, Mr Reznor has always been a deft hand at this populist music malarkey, he just never liked to admit it. âSinâ, âCloserâ, and âThe Perfect Drugâ are all deliciously deviant inversions of the pop song, to the extent that you could innocently drop âThe Perfect Drugâ at a Year Seven dico and no-one would be the wiser (perhaps).
But look at the treats on display here. Opener âAll The Love In The Worldâ is one of two songs form âWith Teethâ to bear a slight resemblance to Radioheadâs âEverything in itâs right placeâ (the second one being the aptly, somewhat cheekily named âRight Where It Belongsâ).âWhere do you get all the love in the world?â Reznor questions while juddering, low-key synth beats pulse beneath a flat piano riff before the whole affair erupts into typical NIN sturm un drang. But the sonic temerity of itâs opening proves something of a red herring: âWith Teethâ is a loud record. Because BOOM! â track two- âyou Know Who You Are?â is all searing drums and angle grinder synth from the get-go, where Mr Reznor repeatedly prits his second question of the evening: âdonât you fucking know what you are?â Letâs not be coy; you have to be a fan of pithy rhyming couplets, idiotic rhetorical questions and self-aggrandising statements such as âI believe I can see the future/Because I repeat the same routineâ to really dig Reznorâs lyrics. He is not the brooding poet of the darkened soul as some â Tori Amos included â claim him to be. It took the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, to truly infuse a NIN song with meaning and itâs telling that Reznor has admitted to feeling somewhat violated by Cashâs interpretation of âHurtâ. Occasionally, as they did on âCloserâ, the unsophisticated nature of Reznorâs lyrics work to their advantage; his primal insistance does have the ability to hypnotise, as on the first single âThe Hand That Feedsâ â NINâs attempt at the accessible stadium anthem â which ends up sounding a bit like Bono in bondage. This happens to be a good thing, if rather disconcerting image.
But accessibility is key here, and itâs something that may well very well be alienate those who prefer Reznor at his more obtuse.
The bristling âGetting Smallerâ is Queens Of The Stone Ageâs âGo With The Flowâ as heard by Charlie Manson, While the blood-curdling electro-pop of âOnlyâ is perhaps âWith Teethâs most bizarre offering, doubtless coming soon to a Soulwax mix album near you. And then thereâs the final track, the slow burner âRight Where It Belongsâ, gorgeous piano-led dirge that soothes away much of the earlier fury, even when Reznor introduces the sounds of an appreciative audience (just in case you didnât realize how loved NIN are).
He neednât fret. A violent, sumptuous work, âWith Teethâ may cause some grumbling among his more ardent tin-eared fans, but this is as coherent and visionary as Trent Reznor has been in years. (7.)
Along with the review there are mini reviews for:
Pretty Hate Machine â (9)
Broken ep â (7)
The Downward Spiral â (8)
Further Down The Spiral â (7)
The Fragile â (5)
Things Falling Apart â (4)
Transcription note: All typos and factual errors are on the journalists fault â not my typing!
Transcribed by Darryl Steventon