Neat Effects

BAND: Nine Inch Nails
SONG: Only
RATING: A

I hurried online the day I heard you could download Mr. Trent Reznor's latest creation (http://theslip.nin.com) at your own price. I wasn't dissapointed to find his new album continues that unmistakable sound that appeals to millions: perfected electronic hate.
It ranges in terms of song structure, veering in and out between dark dystopic ambiance to those solid verse-chorus-verse chart-knockin' thumpers. My mind has been engineered by years of radio and ADD medication, so it shouldn't come as a suprise that I prefer the latter.

It might be, like, two albums old now, but "Only" falls into that category with the classic simple-but-cool guitar riff that ties together a grabbag of synths and the obsessively talky vox of Reznor.

It's a good song, but it's a damn genius video. The coldly quaint office setting getting stirred up by a push-pin Reznor might be serving an obvious kind of message, but I'd be damned if I wasn't aesthetically pleased with my force-fed message. By seeing those pins rise and fall, push and pull; it's cool! It looks cool. I've got to give credit here; this video cost quite a few nickels to put together, but it was well worth skipping out the Dollar Store for.

A quick jaunt to Wikipedia reveals the director to be master of the eye-catchingly uncomfortable, David Finch. Figures.