NINE INCH NAILS
The Downward Spiral: Deluxe Edition
Interscope
· Trent Reznor (or more likely his label) revisits his break-out album.
These days everybody is re-releasing their past albums – Pavement, The Clash, Jeff Buckley and even The Trews. And in most cases it’s only really the fans that will get anything out of an all-encompassing compendium. But in the case of this two-disc edition of Nine Inch Nails’s The Downward Spiral, it’s those who only have a passing interest in the band who will score.
Disc 1 features a re-mastered version of the original album (in hi-res stereo and 5.1 surround sound). The Downward Spiral has aged well, but the truth is, despite its dance floor success, it lacks the power of Reznor’s debut Pretty Hate Machine. Disc 2 features some of the best B-sides and remixes Nine Inch Nails ever recorded. "Closer (Precursor)" is recognizable as the opening credits music from Seven, "Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)" is a drum-heavy tribute to Lord of the Flies that is far superior to the album version and the industrial pop of "Dead Souls" (originally found on the soundtrack to The Crow) could be one of Reznor’s finest angst anthems to date. If you are a fan, though, you probably bought all this stuff years ago when it came out, so only the three demos (for "Ruiner," "Liar" and "Heresy") will be of any interest. For the rest of us, not shelling out has finally paid off.
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