The Fragile

By Stein �stb� for Verdens Gang, Norway(www.vg.no) on October 6, 1999

Towards complete desintegration

Unsurprisingly, it's a world on the verge of complete desintegration Trent Reznor presents when Nine Inch Nails releases an album for the first time in five years. The depiction of the fragile, transient human barely on the outside of total chaos is underscored but a tremendous spread in compositions - from fragmented, industrial soundcollages to heavily suggestive melodies with the power dynamics we know so well from earlier NIN. "The Fragile" is a double CD, and therefore an hour and a half of raging NIN noise is a little too much. But few people create heavier or better rock moods than NIN in songs like "The Day The World Went Away", "The Wretched" and "The Mark Has Been Made". "The Fragile" is a near complete masterpiece, which could have done with a little editing.

Transcribed by Keith Duemling

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