by Matt Gomez
Daily Lobo
Nine Inch Nails' latest release is a mouthful of the same pop-industrial formula the band has relied on for so long.
The group's mastermind and main contributor, Trent Reznor, didn't risk anything on With Teeth.
The album is laced with familiar, industrial-sounding programmed rhythms, distorted guitar chords and delicate piano parts.
Still, the lack of anything new doesn't leave this album hollow.
In fact, the melody-injected sound of With Teeth makes it more accessible to a larger audience. This isn't bad. It just means Reznor was playing it safe.
The opening track is the best one on the album. But "All the Love in the World" is the peak of the bumpy slope the rest of album slips down.
The song begins with simple beats overlayed with Reznor's whispers and gets progressively harder. Stacatto beats merge perfectly with Reznor's sharp vocals and work well with the soft sounds of repeating piano melodies.
Reznor definitely stretches his vocal chords on this track, working his way from soft whispers to a forceful falsetto. It would have been nice to see this kind of dynamic vocal work in more songs on With Teeth, but it simply doesn't happen.
The second track, "You Know What You Are?" demonstrates this perfectly. Reznor opens the song with a throttling drum line that gets stagnant immediately, acting as a mindless segue into more repetitive droning beats and lyrics. This is where the album hits bottom.
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Thankfully, Reznor is able to pull things back together with tracks such as "The Hand That Feeds" and "Every Day is Exactly the Same," both of which almost attain the same level of tonal diversity as "All the Love in the World."
"Only" reaches into strange territory. The song opens up with a catchy bassline reminiscent of new-wave music and is filled with Reznor's conversational, semi-sarcastic lyrics. Despite its bizarre new-wave sound, the song will spark listeners' curiosity.
Tracks like these can only do so much though.
Despite the shortcomings of several songs, the album is successful on different levels.
The easily digestible rhythms and occasional dynamic vocals and melodies make this disc a safe bet for most.
But for many, With Teeth won't provide enough sustenance to keep them listening.
