The Slip.

Yes, I am obviously fifteen. I really like The Slip, the second album in three months from the newly revitalised Nine Inch Nails. I have to admit, it's a bit exciting having Trent Reznor so busy, even if his recent output has been sub-par. With Teeth was toothless and Year Zero was neither as clever nor as heavy as Reznor promised. I was initially keen on Ghosts, as I've always harboured a great fondness for instrumental NIN, but it was awfully mediocre.



So, now we have The Slip, a multi-format freebie that might just be the best Nine Inch Nails album since The Downward Spiral. Reznor appears to have regained focus and put together a solid collection of tunes. Never as harrowing or disturbed as The Downward Spiral, nor as era-defining, obviously, but the majority of the songs on The Slip are aggressive and lean, a well-oiled rock 'n' roll machine. The trio of "1,000,000", "Letting You" and "Discipline" sound almost as though they were recorded live, but the depth of the production detail betrays the raw sound. This isn't a criticism; vacuum-sealed guitars and manipulated feedback tracks warp the edges of the songs, creating the defining NIN atmosphere.

"Lights In The Sky" sounds like a leftover from 2002's Still, and the only skippable track here. It's more than made up for by the following instrumental pair, "Corona Radiata" and "The Four Of Us Are Dying", which are worthier additions to the NIN canon than any of the pieces from Ghosts

The Slip is not an amazing, essential album, but it is an accomplished one, and it's the most listenable for nearly two decades; The Downward Spiral may stand out as Reznor's defining album, but I'd sooner sit and play The Slip back to back with Pretty Hate Machine.

Nine Inch Nails - Discipline
Nine Inch Nails - The Four Of Us Are Dying