THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Before unleashing uncompromising hatred upon me, remember that three stars is still technically a "good" rating. I just find The Downward Spiral to be very, very overrated. If you don't already know, the concept of this album is the destruction of one particular man with no told name. This would work as an EP, sure, but dragging it out for over an hour simply doesn't work. By the time you get past "The Becoming" you almost stop caring what happens to the man, because the album quickly starts to feel monotonous and annoying.

But, I admit I'm being quite a bit harsh. What this album does WELL is clear: sheer, manipulative detail. I can feel this guy's pain, even though (as of now) my life is perfectly fine. I shake every time I hear the title track, and it's not the only one that will give you chills.

Overall, this is far from a masterpiece, but then again it's also far from bad. If you want to hear a descriptive painting of a slow descent into insanity, I'd probably check this one out.