Review Summary: Potentially the magnum opus of a group who started strong and only got stronger.
Trent Reznor once said, “In my life, I was always floating around the edge of the dark side and saying what if take it a little bit too far, and who says you have to stop there, and what's behind the next door. Maybe you gain a wisdom from examining those things. But after a while, you get too far down in the quicksand,” during an interview with UK magazine Uncut. During the research and thought process involved with reviewing
The Fragile, I find difficulty in trying to say something that hasn’t already been said. I’ve tasked myself with examining an album beyond comparison.
The Fragile is truly an album of its own caliber.
As we dive into
The Fragile, it’s imperative one knows the purpose of the record.
The Fragile serves as a response to
The Downward Spiral. The predecessor is a raw album that deconstructs its subject. The listener sees the subject for what they are, not what they want to be.
The Fragile discusses the subject internally. The songs discuss the conditioning of that subject by examining addiction and depression.
The Fragile continues the deconstructing of the subject. After
Downward Spiral examines the unraveling of our subject, we now see what makes him so vulnerable, so
fragile.
The music involved in
The Fragile takes an intrepid course away from the raw and unpolished style featured in
The Downward Spiral. Soundscapes and ambience become the norm when trekking through
The Fragile. The music takes listeners to a more isolated standpoint. ‘The Great Below’ is a good example of this. Listeners are instantly washed with a calming ambience of clean guitars and hushed synths. The lyrics paint a portrait of the abstraction of death, and when accompanied by the hushed tones, provide an awe-inspiring piece that shows the softer side of Nine Inch Nails.
The album does offer some diversity for those who enjoyed
Downward Spiral. ‘We’re in This Together Now,’ ‘No You Don’t,’ and ‘Star***ers Inc.’ satisfy the need for industrial fans. Lyrically, the album is just as stellar as one would expect. Trent Reznor incorporates an extraordinary amount of intrapersonal narratives to describe the subject. ‘Where is Everybody’ provides a more general example of what the theme of the album strives for. “I’d like to stay, but every day, everything pushes me farther away,” boasts the fragility of the subject. Our subject doesn’t feel a sense of belonging to society and internally shatters.
The left and right sides of the album are easy to invest in. Listeners will vanish into the expansiveness
The Fragile provides. Each disc is filled to the brim with songs that work exceptional together. The enticing music and empirical tone of each track provides a unique experience. This is truly an album casual and devout fans will enjoy.
Fragile may be a long listen, but for those who desire not just to hear a classic, but a defining collection curated during Nine Inch Nail’s prime,
The Fragile is a must. The two sides balance each other out and have an even amount of material to capture listeners. At the completion, one will begin to question which side was better.
Most would define the lack of outstanding songs to be
The Fragile’s biggest fault, but that is left up to interpretation. As stated, each track operates seamlessly together. Instrumentals decorate each track with a link to one another. They establish a mood for the listener to grip and sink into the upcoming journey. I found the album to have many memorable tracks along the way, but we’ll get to those later. Some critics despised the melodrama within the lyrics, but with the context of the album being explained, I find it completely appropriate.
Harkening back to the opening quote, Trent Reznor explained how consumed an artist gets when staying inside of oneself for too long. A person sits there, on one side, encased in a darkness. The lights dimmed, fluorescents lost, silent and cold.
The Fragile shows the tonal shift Reznor took into creating such a monument. Reznor got in touch with a different side of himself and displayed it with such power. Listeners feel completed after listening to an incredible feat regarding how a person becomes fragile.
We were led on a cerebral exploration into the depression, addiction, and disruption of a subject. This was done so eloquently with such precision and passion that each individual song shows importance in the grand scheme. I would dare say
The Fragile could easily be the magnum opus for this band, but without
Downward Spiral, this album would be incomplete. They are two halves of a never ending story. They all begin the same if you think about it.
Standout Tracks
Somewhat Damaged
The Day the World Went Away
The Wretched
We’re in This Together Now
Even Deeper
No You Don’t
The Great Below
Where is Everbody
Star***ers Inc.
