THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

As an old prog hand and as an Adrian Belew fan, this album was my opening to taking an interest in Nine Inch Nails. Adrian just did a brief cameo on this one and I had a girlfriend at the time that really liked the music so I checked it out. At the time there really wasn't much new happening in progressive music, that I knew of, and this album really changed my tastes of my favorite music.

Sure it was to a large extent unlike all the music I had experienced before and considered prog, or as I like to call it, really good music. An interesting amalgam of profanity, synths, heavy guitars, and you name it. Still I can get past the harshness (dark, bleak, angry) of the music and hear an artist who has listened to prog and learned a few lessons incorporated here. At the very least, I have a hard time not taking an interest in anything Belew has touched.

Avoid it if you don't want to be disturbed or challenged. Four on the roundup. (Not the insecticide.))