Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral (1994)

NIN: The Downward Spiral (1994)

For me, The Downward Spiral is one of the greatest albums of the 90s. It's noisy but it's beautiful. It's textured, multifaceted and multilayered, so you may be hearing things on your fiftieth listen that you hadn't heard before.

It's a concept album in which each song is like a piece of jigsaw puzzle; some of the pieces are more revealing of the whole than others, but when the picture is complete it becomes a darkened mirror that both entices and frightens. It has insect noises. It has film samples. It's the perfect example of creativity born from negativity given form. The production sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

The album got a SACD re-release in 2004 with a bonus second disc comprising film tracks, remixes, B-sides and demo versions, most of which originally appeared on singles. It's long been rumoured that a full remaster of The Downward Spiral is/was planned, like Pretty Hate Machine received, but to date no remaster has been officially released, unfortunately.

NIN: Further Down the Spiral (1995)

A remix album featuring songs from The Downward Spiral in various guises and states of deconstruction.

Some are chaotic, resembling the original with extra layers of electronic distortion and intensity, while others get wedded to dance beats that aren't as lazy or awful as it sounds in words.

Listeners very familiar with the original versions should be able to pick out recognisable moments, while either engaging or scratching their head at new ones. Ultimately, Further Down the Spiral is a hypnotic deluge of fractured sounds and reconceived emotions that I'm not skilled enough to accurately define in words.

It's worth noting that the US version has a number of different tracks than the rest of the world, and vice versa. I own both but prefer the non-US version (released in Japan, Australia, and UK).