Sometimes, albums are like people. You have to get to know them.

I don’t feel like I know With Teeth very well. I have over 1,000 words of notes written on it, but I get the feeling there’s something I’m missing. At first I couldn’t even decide if I liked the album, but it was intriguing, so I kept listening.

This is the first Nine Inch Nails album (not counting the live album and its companion, Still) released in over five years. I could go on here and compare it to The Fragile, 1999’s gigantic soundscape, but that’s been done to death so let’s leave it at this: With Teeth and The Fragile are two different animals. Fans of one may be disappointed in the other. There. Done with that.

Things start off quietly with ”All the Love in the World”, a song that doesn’t sound at all like anything Nine Inch Nails have ever recorded but at the same time sounds exactly like Nine Inch Nails. You don’t notice it at first—Trent singing quietly over a loop. Okay, we expected that. But then right around the 3:15 mark the synthesizer disappears and some beautiful piano starts up. Then Trent starts repeating, “Why do you get all the love in the world?” and it should sound repetitive, but it doesn’t. The reason for this is probably the varying melodies: sometimes he’s singing it in an angsty voice, sometimes falsetto, and sometimes he’s screaming it, the whole thing building in intensity until the song ends quietly with just piano…

…and then you practically fall out of your chair in surprise when song two, “You Know What You Are” suddenly starts with fast, frantic, in-your-face drums (courtesy of Mr. Grohl.) Think something that could have been off Broken (the band’s 1992 EP), with a more organic approach and better songwriting. Yeah yeah yeah, it’s not knock-your-socks off amazing (although track 11, “Getting Smaller” is from the same family tree and downright awesome) but it’s an enjoyable song from start to finish.

Speaking of that better songwriting, track three, “The Collector” is up there with my NIN favorites. Lyrics are not usually Trent Reznor’s strongest point…okay, lyrics are basically never Trent Reznor’s strongest point. “The Collector’s” lyrics are pretty good, though. It’s shorter then most NIN songs (just over three minutes) but that suits it fine. It doesn’t really feel like a short song, but at the same time you wish he’d repeat the chorus just one more time. I suppose you could say this is typical NIN—synths n’ drums n’ soaring choruses that end in a throat wrenching yell. But it’s typical NIN done really, really well, so who’s complaining?

Everyone has probably heard the first single, “The Hand That Feeds”, so I won’t say much here other than that I loved it for the first four or five listens, but now it loses my interest right after the bridge. I’ll chock it up to the lack of change between the verses and chorus. The whole thing sounds just a little too smooth.

“Every Day Is Exactly the Same” is a very relaxing, rainy-day type song that is unlike anything else I’ve heard in the NIN catalogue. Trent sings (mostly) in a sad but calm, almost apathetic way that makes the song seem gut-wrenchingly sad.

Now let’s skip ahead to the title track, “With Teeth”. It opens with a drum beat that just sounds dirty—I’m serious, if drum beats were people, this one would (pardon the stereotype) wear fishnets and a practically non-existent leather skirt. Trent uses his quiet Evil Voice, which adds a very creepy texture to the song. And I promise the way he pronounces “With Teeth” (with-THa tee-THa) stops being annoying after…oh, six or so listens. And the piano interlude, as beautiful as it is, gives the song a sort of disjointed feel that some people will love and others will hate, and I can’t tell you which group I fall into because it changes with every listen. But the song is intriguing and it’s worth it for hearing that drum beat, if nothing else, so we’ll call it a success.

“Only” is another one I can’t figure out. Do I love the way he talks/raps the verses, or do I hate it? Is the synthesizer annoying or does it add to the mood of the song? Is the chorus dumb, or kinda cool? “Only” gets points for individuality, at least. You’ll have to make up your mind about it yourself, my head is still spinning.

Remember all that ‘if-songs-were-people’ stuff? Well if “Sunspots” was a person, it would wear sunglasses all the time and saunter around like it owned the place…and it probably does own the place, so let’s not argue. Trent sings it beautifully, going back and forth between the quiet Evil voice and a creepy falsetto. Definitely one of the best on the CD, and I enjoy it more with each listen.

And “Beside You In Time”…well, to put it plainly, it’s not an interesting song. Intriguing at first, but then it goes on…and on…and on…And you keeping waiting for it to build up, for something to happen, some change of direction, but “Beside You In Time” never delivers. The only entertaining part is the ending (which you may have heard in the With Teeth teaser on NIN.com) and then even that just fizzles out. I suppose from a lesser band it may be tolerable, but from Nine Inch Nails it’s just disappointing.

Album closer “Right Where It Belongs” is a somber song that sounds almost like something off of Still, only more built-up. And it’s a very adequate closer. Maybe it’s just a little cliché when Trent sings, “Would you find your self afraid to see?” and maybe the crowd-cheering noises three-fourths of the way through the song are kind of useless, but that’s the kind of stuff that only bothers me when I’m in Critic Mode. When it’s overcast and there’s a candle lit somewhere,” Right Where It Belongs” hits dead on.

So assuming this disjointed collection of my contradicting opinions has left you scratching your head, let me end with saying that With Teeth is far from perfect, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Definitely worth a listen or two…or three or four or five or six or…yeah. You get the idea.

Recommended for anyone.



Label: Interscope Records
Release: May 17th, 2005

Track Listing:

01. All The Love In the World
02. You Know What You Are?
03. The Collector
04. The Hand That Feeds
05. Love Is Not Enough
06. Every Day Is Exactly the Same
07. With Teeth
08. Only
09. Getting Smaller
10. Sunspots
11. The Line Begins to Blur
12. Beside You In Time
13. Right Where It Belongs

Rating:



Review by: Lyndie