BROKEN

This release gets 4 out of 5 stars as possibly Trent Reznor's best. It's unusual to say that about half an hour's worth of music. However, its conciseness is its strongest selling point. NIN's next effort, "The Downward Spiral", is brilliant. However, over an hour's worth of anger and misery can be draining. "Broken" is definitely more aggressive than "Pretty Hate Machine". In my mind, that's a very good thing.

At roughly 30 minutes, "Broken" succeeds emotionally IMO. Favorite tracks are "Wish", "Help Me I Am In Hell', and "Happiness in Slavery". However, everything here is worth listening to. I've always thought that it was strange/funny that Trent was covering an Adam Ant song, of all things. However, injecting "Physical" with his own angst in a typical NIN arrangement works. I think the song points to what makes NIN's work successful; it's so musical. For all the rage in Trent's music, he can write strong melodies and lyrics. That's why "Broken" is NIN at their almost best, if not best.