Nine Inch Nails
With Teeth
On Sale Now
For $11.38

I want to be as excited about Nine Inch Nails as I was in high school again. But the fact is I’m no longer angst-ridden or discontent. I don’t wear all black and I don’t hate myself that much these days so maybe this record or even this genre isn’t for me anymore. Sure there are still plenty of things to be pissed off about, but I don’t wallow in misery like I once did and find solace in a song like “Terrible Lie” anymore. In fact I find self-loathing to be exhaustively tiresome and that pretty much sums up my review on With Teeth. Listening to the latest from Trent Reznor is not unlike having to put up with Marvin the Robot from Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, reiterating melancholic dissatisfaction to the point of tired tedium. I just don’t get excited about solipsistic nihilism anymore and one could blame The Flaming Lips or The Polyphonic Spree for that because I find optimism to be more contagious and slightly more memorable. Sonically in fact, it finds Trent in a bit of a black hole vacuum in which no light can escape nor does he try to branch out beyond tired Depeche Mode meets Skinny Puppy era-industrial dance rock. He’s not expanding his palette but instead settling for what’s “good enough” instead of what could be truly great. It’s not to say the guy is talent-free because anyone who has heard The Fragile, can certainly attest to his knack for building a brooding atmosphere that’s all his own creation. It was definitely The Wall for the Y2K goth kids.

But NIN’s latest sparks up a rather obvious inquiry: Has Trent not listened to alternative radio in the past seven years? Interpol and Franz Ferdinand have been building their careers around dumbed-down tributes to nostalgic club-pop, and first single “The Hand That Feeds” does nothing to distinguish itself from the same cookie-cutter insipidness. The production quality is visibly present, but there are no interesting textures or themes that haven't been tossed around already on past efforts. Opening track does spark anticipation as Trent impulsively layers his vocal over the rhythmic pronouncement of the title, questioning why one person gets to have “All The Love In The World.” The drums, supplied by the always reliable Dave Grohl retain the signature dynamic shifts during “You Know What You Are,” supplied with a disjointed feel, and this also dominates the standout title track With Teeth. It’s with these two songs you can fully see the artistic progression that Trent Reznor has made along with the soothing, ambient closer, “Right Where He Belongs.”

He’s not exactly mellowed out; after all, in the past he’s built his niche inside the schizophrenic quiet/loud feel that many of his albums take. The songs bleed right through one another and very rarely does a lyrical phrase stand out. He’s run out of interesting things to say even if he’s still a solid craftsman with production skills of the highest order. But there are moments that are eye-rolling and stomach churning such as “Only,” one of the more catchy tracks which is sadly dominated by a spoken word pseudo-rap chant that is eerily reminiscent of “Down In It.” Trent sounds dated and downright cheesy when he speaks of being “Less concerned about fitting into the world/Your world that is.” And any NIN fan should be tired of hearing “Nothing can stop me noWith Tw.” Trent still sings about scabs, wounds, blurring lines, and fading away to the point where you can predict what’s coming next. Yawn. Lyrically, it’s clearly his most stale record with very few lines that resonate, and musically, it’s a bit of a letdown because we all know he’s capable of much more than distorted synth-disco. There are small glimmers of hope during the last song with Trent’s assured delivery of “What if all the world's inside of your heart/Just creations of your own/Your devils and your gods/All the living and the dead/And you really are alone” that suggest what could have been.

With Teeth is not a terrible album because the fans will stick by him if he made an album of nothing but white noise. There’s no denying that Trent still knows how to rock out better than any recent imitators. And I’m sure it’s hard on him because the heightened expectations after his previous epic masterpiece only increased with every passing year, but With Teeth is a toss-away, destined for the CD recycling bin along with Stabbing Westward and Gravity Kills. And yet you can’t fault the guy for trying because there will always be an audience for the relentlessly sad kids out there who need an outlet to vent the frustrations within themselves. With Teeth does offer a visceral release at best. Since Trent got me through a lot of hard times, then there’s no reason to stop him from doing so now. I just wish he’d embrace evolution instead of settling for something rather trivial.

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