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The Downward Spiral |  | Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Label: Universal / Island
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy Used: £2.56
as of 24/11/2009 05:49 GMT details
You Save: £6.43 (72%)
New (28) Used (18) Collectible (7) from £2.56
Seller: zoverstocks
Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 8991
Format: Explicit Lyrics
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Running Time: 65 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 731452212627
EAN: 0731452212627
ASIN: B0000262Q8
Release Date: March 1, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Mr Self Destruct | | • | Piggy | | • | Heresy | | • | March Of The Pigs | | • | Closer | | • | Ruiner | | • | The Becoming | | • | I Do Not Want This | | • | Big Man With A Gun | | • | A Warm Place | | • | Eraser | | • | Reptile | | • | The Downward Spiral | | • | Hurt |
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| Editorial Reviews:
From Amazon.com
It's easy to understand why Nine Inch Nails became the industrial band to break out of the techno ghetto and win a larger audience. Trent Reznor, who records the NIN albums almost entirely by himself (although he tours with a full band), tries very hard to pass himself off as an angry young man, but underneath the angst-ridden lyrics, pounding synths, and grating guitars is an irrepressible pop sensibility. On the second full-length NIN album, iThe Downward Spiral/i, Reznor builds his constructions of noise and gloom around warm, fuzzy melodies. On the album's first single, "March of the Pigs," for example, Reznor screams about swine lined up for slaughter amid guitars screeching in pain. Suddenly the guitars fall away to reveal the sensually throbbing rhythm track below; then that falls away to reveal a vocal-and-piano track that's as catchy as anything by Elton John. Because Reznor has a better handle on dynamics now, the melodic core is more obvious than ever. i--Geoffrey Himes/i
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
Amazing October 3, 2004
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
This album is the best i have heard. Intense, passionate, terrbly depressing, in some cases the most calming thing i have ever heard. Trent Reznor leaves his meanings to the lyrics open, there are numerous debates to the meanings, they can be so in depth it gives a whole new meaning to the music, making it a truly awesome experience.br Many people may think this is a heavy album, it is, (with its calmer parts) but the heavy parts are heavy in a diffrent way to normal. The "heavyness" is created by many smaller parts ending up in a masses confusion of art.br In Closer i counted 13 different sounds at the same time, there maybe more, there are so many parts to the album you cant hear unless you really sit down and listen to it hard, alot.br The best album i have ever heard, as soon as i heard "Closer" i wanted the album, as soon as i heard "Hurt" i knew i would do anything to get it.
A stirring contradiction. Beauty and Violence married as one February 11, 2001
C. Cottingham
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Trent Reznor just not just write 'songs'. He writes experiences. Just as the auteur theory of film study teaches us that the image can be layered with meanings and statements quite independent of the narrative, so Nine Inch Nail's music constantly evokes a sense of structure, of attempting to convey a message through not just the lyrics, but through the music itself.
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br /Here we have an album that tracks the human mind through a myriad of conflicting and contrasting moods and states. Opener 'Mr Self Destruct' begins with the sound of a man being beaten, setting an apt precedent for the album that follows. The resulting track at first bludgeons, but then throws off anyone who dares to believe they can predict its course, with an intricate break-down into a near white-noise. Follower 'Piggy' doesn't even try to follow, introducing an overwhelming atmosphere of melancholy that all but ecclipses the previous statement of malicious intent.
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br /And so the album continues, confusing at every turn. Even when Reznor chooses to adhere to the Verse/Chorus/Verse format, it still seems like an attempt to subvert. 'Closer' is a really sexy song, riding along on a synth so gorgeous that it should dismay any Slipknot fans simply out for a record to 'mosh' to. Make no mistake, like Tool, Nine Inch Nails are an intelligent force of music, with so much more to offer than some bruises and a collection of other people's sweat in the moshpit.
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br /However abrasive the record may seem, a sense of balance is still maintained throughout. The nihilism of 'Heresy' is stopped short by 'A Warm Place', an instrumental so delicate as to lull you dangerously into calm. And then the drum from 'Eraser' shatters your every being. This is not just a 'heavy' record. It is loud, it is aggressive, but it is also beautiful, well crafted, and at times achingly sad. It isn't any one thing, as to call it anything would be to pigeonhole and limit its brilliance. Trent Reznor himself said that the making and the subsequent touring of this record was the lowest point in his life. You can actually hear that on this release. You can hear all of the extremities of emotion. There is tortured love, rejection, the baseness of sexuality, fear, loathing, melancholy, anger, and finally, a dismissal of everything that our society values as important. Nihilism. The rejection of everthing.
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br /Behind the pretension and the manufacturing and the commercialism and the degradation of everything around us, of a society losing any sense of moral coding, of ideology that is becoming twisted and tainted as Political Correctness attempts to satisfy everyone at all times, behind all of that, we are human. Behind the grinding mechanics and the screeching electronics, even behind the delicate piano that accompanies 'The Downward Spiral's' most vulnerable moments, this record too, is human. Everything on it 'feels' real, with emotions that raise the hairs on the back of your neck. It is a work of cathartism, where the music and the structure serves to emphasise the feelings at the records heart.
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br /But yeah, it is darned good to mosh to as well.
another amazing release from NIN December 20, 2002
skye reznor (Canada)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
trent reznor, the man of brilliance behind NINs fame (who could not unnaccurately be referred to as a prodigy) has done it again - produced another amazing, breathtaking album. "the downward spiral" is one of the band's most remarkable pieces, one of those incredible wonders that you can just sit there and listen to all the way through, with melodies ranging from thrashing and aggressive such as the rage of the heathen "heresy" to the haunting beauty of the tune "hurt" but always with lyrics that drive a stake right through your heart. pparticularly outstanding tracks include:pmr selfdestruct - the anger/frustration/selfhatred-propelled opening tune that may sound to some like a heap of random noise all clumped together as one large headache but is actually an industrial masterpiecepheresy - an atheist anthem about reznor questioning the integrity of there being an all-good god out there when (and you cant deny it) there's just so much shit going on in this worldpcloser - possibly the most famous NIN song, though once you listen to it, it's not hard to see why. this rather testosterone-infused track is more than just a bundle of hormones but also a song about the self-hatred and insecurity that can come with having such *ahem* overwhelming feelings of lustpbig man with a gun - is a rather lyrically-revolting though brutally honest song that talks about shooting people 'just for the fuck of it' and forcing them to perform sexual favors for you. however, if you've ever experienced feelings of raw hatred for anyone in particular, then this song might help you feel a little better.pa warm place - is the all-instrmental track that comes as a somewhat relievingly calm change after the aggression and rage of big man with a gun. its quite beautiful.phurt - the last tune on the album, though very much worth the 'wait' (i put the quotation marks as it is not much of a wait listening to this album to get to the 14th track - more like a rather pleasant if not penetrating experience). it deals with feelings of self-loathing and despair, a song so hauntingly beautiful that you'll cry when you hear it (at least i did *cough*) and people who have ever experienced problems with *ahem* 'self mutilation' will probably be able to relate to a lot of the lyrics....ptrent reznor is a genius. theres nothing more to it. BUY THIS ALBUM
Nothing Can Stop Me Now... November 8, 2003
Michael Crane
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This album is considered Nine Inch Nails' most controversial and disturbing work. They completely change their image that was first seen on "Pretty Hate Machine" to something much more darker and emotional. The result is a very successful and complex masterpiece that takes you to places you have never been in the music world. With each track you step in further and further into Reznor's mind. "The Downward Spiral" is an outstanding album and will always remain a classic.pThe songs are much more complex and have more structure to them than the ones that appear on "Pretty Hate Machine" and "Broken." There are heavy songs, and there are soft songs. There are disturbing songs, and there are beautiful songs. You get to experience something different with each song.pThe great thing about this album is, just like with any other NIN album, no two songs are the same. Each one has its own identity and feeling to it. Another plus is that there is not a single bad song on the entire album. My favourites are "mr. self destruct," "march of the pigs," "closer," "the becoming," "a warm place," "eraser," "I do not want this," "ruiner," and "hurt."p"The Downward Spiral" is an amazing album. Reznor knows how to make great music and continues to impress us even to this day. Be warned, however; this album isn't for everyone. It is indeed a very controversial and even sometimes offensive album. But if you love Nine Inch Nails, then this is a must-have. It is a CD I continue to listen to over and over again. It never ceases to amaze me. A classic to the very end.
in response to review below. August 24, 2007
D. Thompson (leeds)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I was a moody teenager who LOVED NIN with a passion - the angst fell away and i got into a much wider range of music.
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br /but having revisited this after what must be at least 10 or more years since i last heard it - i have found i still beleive it is a really good album.
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br /ignore the self loathing and 'i hate the world' attitude and you still have a very very good set of songs that are perfectly crafted. This really is his masterpiece - i cant think of anything you could add to this album to make it a better slice of commercial heavy metal??
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br /an angt ridden teen - (although you won't admit it)?? - buy it!
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br /into white noise....buy it!
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br /appreciate well produced music?? Buy it!!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
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