Uncut Available on Patreon! Favorites - Mr. Self Destruct, Heresy, Closer, The Becoming, A Warm Place Least Favorites - I Do Not Want This (If I Had to Pick)
Some trivia: - Some of The Downward Spiral was recorded where the Manson murders took place. - That sample at the beginning of Mr Self Destruct is from the film THX 1138, the directorial debut of George Lucas and the namesake for the company THX. - The weird sound at the end of Mr Self Destruct is a guitar played by Adrian Belew of King Crimson, which was processed so heavily it became... that. - The drums at the end of Piggy were played by Reznor and were intended to be filler (a stand-in for a proper drum track) but he liked how they sounded, so they stayed. - There is a recurring motif on the album that can be heard on Piggy, Heresy, Closer, and the title track. - March of the Pigs has a weird but cool time signature, with three bars of 7/8 and one of 4/4. The chord progression in the calmer bridge is borrowed from an older song called Wish off of the EP Broken. - The kick on Closer is sampled from the Iggy Pop song Nightclubbing. Starting in the second verse, there's a subtle 808 bassdrum that adds rhythm to the steady four-on-the-floor kick pattern. It is not supposed to be a sexy song. The song is about the protagonist coping with intense self-loathing through sex. - The Becoming is in a combination of 7/4 and 6/4, with the "Annie" section being solely in 6/4. The opening samples a scene from the 1989 film Robot Jox. - Big Man With A Gun was written as a parody of gangta rap of the late 80s and early 90s. Ironically, some complained about the song, assuming it WAS a gangsta rap track, which is funny. - A Warm Place is the only track to be in a "typical" key, being D minor. The rest of the album heavily utilizes dissonant intervals like tritones and minor seconds, as well as interchanging minor and major thirds. - The "eraser" sound effect at the opening of Eraser was made by blowing into a detached sax reed. The song is in 6/4, but switches to 4/4. - Reptile samples a sound effect from the 1989 film Leviathan. I have been caught off guard SEVERAL times by the sudden jump in volume at the beginning. - The title track samples ambient sounds from the 1979 film Alien. It marks the final appearance of the Spiral motif, as well as the album's protagonist (if you interpret the song as depicting a successful suicide attempt). - The noise on Hurt is mostly present in the left stereo channel, almost as if the hearing in that ear was damaged by, say, a really loud sound. The song was famously covered by Johnny Cash.
Nine Inch Nails is an Industrial band, not a metal band - as such, this was an industrial album, and not a metal one. An absolute banger of an album that pounds on your ear holes until the end. The Downward Spiral is among my favorite albums of all time. Really happy that you enjoyed this and could grasp some of what was being said. Good vibes. :)
Great review! I totally agree with your assessment. Back in the day, they caught everyone off guard with their mix of metal and industrial sound. As messed up as my childhood was, NIN felt like a kindred spirit to me, that I gravitated towards and get lost in the sounds for a while.
I remember finding this album lying around in the living room when I was like 10. I was mesmerized until Heresy, which scared the fuck out of me, as someone who recognized at least some concept of blasphemy and immediately stopped it and took the headphones off. Hour later I was right back to it and listened to the entire album in one sitting.
Everyone’s been reacting to this album lately, so I finally checked it out and, yeah, it’s pretty wild. I dig. Also, should you ever listen to Lingua Ignota’s “Caligula,” be ready for at least 4 jump scares. Lol
I knew NIN from Alessandro Cortini but I remember the first time I listened to this album it was so special. I was walking alone in Berlin after a party and the intro was shocking. It came in a period of change and I loved everything of it. I was like, is this real or am I imagining it?
Funny you mention Aphex Twin because he got commissioned to make some instrumental tracks for the remix albums of this album “Further Down the Spiral”, the songs are At the Heart of It All & The Beauty of Being Numb
gona pop this one. forget about how great it is from time to time. also reminds me how many gems i found in albums cause i was busy/far away/ whatever to skip to the next song.
17:15 One interpretation I've read said that in Reptile it is describing his relationship with substances since the themes of this album are around addiction and depression. The crave and desperation he is feeling at this point in the album is like an insect to honey and he needs it to live but he also feels impure and "infected". He knows he cannot trust "her" to be loyal to him (the substances will not actually help him) but he continues going back.
