BROKEN

Three years after his excellent first Nine Inch Nails album, Trent Reznor apparently didn't have enough material for another full album, so he released this EP. The original release (the one I own), had the last two tracks, cover songs by Adam Ant and Pigface (a previous band that Reznor was in), on a separate mini disk. Apparently, after discovering that some record store operators (not me) had been removing the mini disk and selling it separately, Reznor rereleased the EP with all of the songs on one disk.

I enjoyed Pretty Hate Machine immensely. I found Reznor's songwriting on that album to be fresh and emotional. Here, not so much. Although he uses many of the same sounds and techniques as on his first album, somehow here it sounds forced and contrived. Perhaps it is because on this disk, you can barely understand what he is singing on each song. At least the beat and sounds are compelling on a primal level. That will have to suffice.