Alright, I admit it. I downloaded the new Nine Inch Nails album, With Teeth, which comes out May 3. I couldn’t wait for it. Yes, of course, I’m still going to buy it. In fact, I’m going to buy the 5.1 surround sound dual disc so I can listen to it on our system while I’m playing Crimson Skies. To be honest, I’d have bought the damn thing even if I didn’t like it, for two reasons: One, out of guilt for having downloaded it early. (Typically I only download albums that I already own, having bought them in the dark ages on cassette, or having bought and lost or damaged the CD. I figure I already own the license to listen to the music since I did buy it.) Two, I own every Halo anyway, and I’m kind of a completist when it comes to Nine Inch Nails. (For the uninitiated, a Halo is an official NIN release.)

Anyway, Halo 19, With Teeth, is the 2005 album of the year. I can say for sure now that there won’t be an album released this year that I’ll like better, and I feel compelled to post a quick review.

All of the following is presented as my opinion as a NIN fan, and should be disregarded by everyone who reads it. I’m just another fan with a big mouth, so don’t take anything I say seriously. I don’t see myself as an authority.

With Teeth is Reznor’s most song-centered album since Pretty Hate Machine. It’s not an album-centered album. There aren’t really any musical or lyrical themes that form cohesive threads throughout the work. It’s just 14 catchy, kick ass industrial/pop/rock songs, and might qualify as Reznor’s most angst-free album yet. Here’s a song by song review:

Track 01 – "All The Love In The World" -- A surprisingly mellow album opener, reminiscent of the “deconstructed” versions of old songs on Still. It’s catchy, though, and builds to a heavier, louder bridge at the end of the track. It seems at first to be a strange track for an album opener (especially for those of us who expected an opener like “Wish” or “Mr. Self Destruct”), but sets a tone for a different kind of album, and I think it was probably a calculated and smart choice to begin the album with. Track 02 – "You Know What You Are?" -- Heavy, angry, loud… classic NIN. The obscene ranting of the chorus just begs to be screamed-along-with in concert, and this track will probably be the album favorite of fans of NIN’s heavier songs. Track 03 – "The Collector" -- This album has almost a funk/dance feel, more so than any NIN album since PHM. That feel really begins in earnest with "The Collector". Like much of the album, it’s percussion heavy and driving and has an infectious bass line that stays in my head. If this track doesn’t remind other listeners of PHM, then I suppose I’m probably out on a limb in my instance that this album is comparable to the debut. Track 04 -- "The Hand That Feeds" -- The first single, which, just as I imagined, sounds better in the context of the album than it does by itself. One more catchy, loud, bombastic rock song. I like it more each time I hear it. Track 05 -- "Love Is Not Enough" -- One of only two songs on the album that I don’t like yet. I emphasize “yet” because I won’t be surprised if this track grows on me. So far, NIN has only ever done two tracks that I genuinely dislike (the awful “Deep” from the Tomb Raider soundtrack, and “I’m Looking Forward To Joining You Finally” from the otherwise perfect album The Fragile). This one has more potential than either of those songs, and I’ll keep giving it chances. Track 06 -- "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" -- Screams out to be the second single from the album. Catchy, mid-tempo, classic Reznor. Track 07 -- "With Teeth" -- I didn’t know what to make of this song the first time I heard it, all I really noticed was Reznor’s affected delivery of the title in the chorus: “Witha Teethha!” Then, the second time through, the track just clicked with me big time, and right now it’s one of my four favorites on the album. I like the tempo and tone... jumping, from a heavy Black Sabbathy beginning to a delicate middle section, back to a louder, angrier read of the first part of the song. After three listens, the song lodged itself in my brain and now I walk around mumbling “Witha Teethha!” at work, getting weird looks. Track 08 -- "Only" -- The second of the two songs on the album that I don’t like yet. This one will most definitely grow on me as soon as I get used to the silly lyrics in the chorus “There is no f—in’ you, there is only me!” Musically, the song is pure, catchy “dance” Nails (like “Down In It” or “Sin”), only funkier than anything else Reznor has done. This song got some big-ass funk. It deserves to be the opening credit track for the next Shaft movie. Track 09 -- "Getting Smaller" -- I LOVE this song. I LOVE IT. As of now it is my favorite track on the album. Loud, fast, catchy. Impossible not to sing along with. Be careful listening to this track in your car, as you might glance down at the speedometer and ask yourself if you’ve really been going 95 for the past three minutes. Track 10 -- "Sunspots" -- My second favorite track on the album. A catchy, driving, bass heavy mid-tempo track like track 06, but catchier, bass heavier, and better. “Catchy” seems to be the watchword for this album. This track is a prime example. Track 11 -- "The Line Begins To Blur" -- Good rock music should make the muscles in your gut tighten up when you listen to it. This song does that. Man, what a buzz. What noise, what force, what drive. This is my third favorite track on the album. Tracks 9, 10, and 11 are a great 1, 2, 3 punch. Track 12 -- "Beside You In Time" -- The only track on the album that is sonically comparable to my favorite NIN album, The Fragile. A droning, sustained guitar and minimalist percussion work well to create a mood, and Reznor’s lyrics about loss sustain it. I predict that the teenie-boppers who buy the album will hate this track and those of us pushing 40 who’ve been NIN fans since we were teenie-boppers ourselves will love it. Track 13 -- "Right Where It Belongs" -- What a good album closer, and as much of a surprise as the opener was. At no point on this album does Reznor slip into “Oh, woe is me” mode (See “Hurt,” see “Something I Can Never Have,” etc.) I expected a real mope to close the album, since there hadn’t really been one up til the last track… and since, well, let’s face it, mope rock is something Reznor does better than anyone. “Hurt,” in fact, manages to convey something really genuine, and it’s impossible not to mope right along with it when you listen to it, especially as covered by Johnny Cash. There’s not a mope on this album, though, even in the closing track. Instead, Reznor goes for something poignant and thoughtful, and it works. The tempo is slow and the melody is really… well, catchy. It works and works well.

Just for a bit of context for other NIN fans, I rate this album a 4 on a 5 scale, and here’s where I rate some of the others:

Pretty Hate Machine: 4
Broken: 4
Fixed: 3
The Downward Spiral: 5
Closer To God: 3
Further Down The Spiral: 4
Further Down The Spiral (European Version): 4
The Fragile: 5 (My favorite)
Things Falling Apart: 2
And All That Could Have Been: 5
Still: 5

OK, yeah, I tend to rate NIN pretty high. I think Reznor is a genius. Maybe I should give some more context with where I rate notable albums by other bands:

Metallica – Master of Puppets: 5
Metallica -- Reload: 2
Tool -- Undertow: 3
Tool -- Lateralus: 5
Toad the Wet Sprocket -- Fear: 5
Toad the Wet Sprocket -- Bread and Circus: 1
The Cure -- Disintegration: 5
The Cure -- Japanese Whispers: 2

Ya know what, this isn’t really working either. At this point I’m probably just writing for my own masturbatory purposes. Why are you even reading this?

I’ll end this with one serious note: Don’t play With Teeth around your kids. The lyrics are… well, it’s a NIN album. If you, like me, have kids and love NIN, you know what to expect. Trent drops the F bomb a lot.

And I’ll also say that I can’t really comment on the lyrics to the album because, as a Christian, I ignore most rock lyrics. Those that seem like an affront to my beliefs go in one ear and out the other, and the rare ones that give me something to contemplate end up as cherished exceptions. Reznor has his issues with religion, so I’ve come to expect that his lyrics will be of the in-one-ear variety. The one exception, of course, is the series of thoughtful and meaningful lyrics to the songs on The Fragile. It’s telling, though, that my absolute all-time favorite NIN song is the instrumental, “Just Like You Imagined.”

And I’m done!