Nine Inch Nails - Broken (1992)^{Release ID: 4902}

Trent Reznor has been active for nearly 4 decades now, with his popularity growing with every release. He can be considered the industrial music king! His project Nine Inch Nails is the reason for his success and has changed their sound quite a lot. The 80s debut Pretty Hate Machine was known for its cheesy synths and beats, and torture-themed lyrics where vocal distortion dominates. Now what was the 90s like?...

Drastic new changes come aboard including higher prominence of guitar, screams, and a beautiful blend of orchestration/piano/synths in contrast to the hideously great heaviness. Those can be found in the dark Downward Spiral and the melodic Fragile. The bridge of pleasure and pain continues to extend beyond, though some gaps between albums, such as between Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral last as long as 5 to 6 years. Fortunately, to prevent any stagnation, the band has cooked up an EP, Broken, an over half-hour industrial metal EP essential for Nine Inch Nails fans! This cauldron of catchy riff crunch marked the beginning of a dark decade.

"Pinion" is a decent distorted intro with a riff building up to the end. Then it drops into "Wish" with a programmed beat and spaced-out vocals making room for metal riffing. The catchy metal chorus spices up that mundane verse-chorus pattern with metal guitar and synths, the latter foreshadowing what they would have in The Downward Spiral. "Last" adds a slower twist into the riffing that's like a more distorted metal take on Pretty Hate Machine, and then crossing over to a hint at The Downward Spiral. Good one!

"Help Me I Am in Hell" is a melodic interlude that would foreshadow even further into the instrumentals of The Fragile. It's a nice highlight to let you breathe before the rest of the album socks it to ya. "Happiness in Slavery" is pretty bad, not having any melody at all, as Reznor screams "Slave screams!!" It mellows out for a little while with a bit of melody in the verses. Sick yet bearable... After a minute of programmed drumming and Reznor's whispers, "Gave Up" has good riff-blast before quieting down for the verses, while keeping the pounding drums, screamed vocals, and guitar blasts. The pre-chorus gradually grows louder until the chorus with loud metal riff repetition until fading out.

In many versions of the EP, there are 91 one-second silent tracks that lead into tracks 98 and 99, which are two covers, one awesome and the other horrible, starting with "Physical", originally by Adam and the Ants, an awesome catchy tune with a sexual-sounding chorus that you desperately try to resist singing out loud, "You're too physical to me". The Pigface cover "Suck" sucks as an ending track, having some of the worst 90s techno-metal sh*t I've heard. They should've ended the EP with the "Physical" cover.

Most of the tracks would serve as the basis for one of the sickest, most disturbing short films you would ever find. The content is why that film never had a commercial release, that and they don't want it to overshadow the music. If the film is too much for you, just stick with the music. And definitely ditch that sucky Pigface cover....

Favorites: "Wish", "Help Me I Am In Hell", "Gave Up", "Physical"

I was very spoiled growing up when I discovered industrial music. Nine Inch Nails were my introduction and nothing has sounded the same ever since. If you are not already aware, I love Nine Inch Nails and I believe that Trent Reznor is one of the greatest minds in music. This may seem very unusual coming from me, but Nine Inch Nails is one of only a select few artists, across any genre, that is able to make the industrial elements work and actively contribute to the music itself, rather than being obtrusive, or just being incredibly cheesy.

That being said, I have always been much more of a fan of Trent Reznor's electronic music rather than his more rock/metal side; the one that is generally more favoured by critics. Do not take that the wrong way, I still enjoy it, and the Broken EP is still really damn good, but does not live up to the highs presented on the debut record.

I think what makes this album so good is the songwriting. The abrasive industrial elements that persist throughout "Happiness In Slavery" and "Physical (You're So)" are balanced well by Reznor's chopped and screwed vocals, and a lot of the manipulating of timbre in the guitar. The album also has an excellent bass element that is one of Reznor's most important selling points on any record. And the compositions are pretty good, if a little redundant at times. "Wish" and "Last" start the album with very similar formula's before the album transforms into a nihilistic trip of slow burners, highlighted by the stellar closing song "Suck". 

Production wise, as with any industrial album, most of the abrasiveness comes in the percussion. And here, there are some shining moments on "Wish" and "Physical (You're So)", but there is also "Happiness In Slavery" which can be grating on the ears over a short period of time, before you remember it's over five minutes! Reznor does a lot of vocal modulation on this record as mentioned previously. His vocals are so angry and harsh that you might have a hard time adjusting if you were coming to this from any other Nine Inch Nails record, minus Pretty Hate Machine. 

Outside of a couple of pretty solid hooks, there really isn't all that much else to say about the Broken EP by Nine Inch Nails. I still enjoy the heck out of this little aside from Reznor, and while he would continue to experiment with heavier tones on The Downward Spiral two years later, it was clear that this was not were the band wanted to stay. At the very least, this EP gave an outlet for the band to explore more gothic themes, and it would work remarkably well later in the career of Trent Reznor.