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Pretty Hate Machine by: Nine Inch Nails

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Rating: - Pretty "Hate"

Woe. Pain. Anger. Rejection. And some very catchy industrial beats.

Trent Reznor has become legendary for the sound he perfected in "Pretty Hate Machine," his exceptional debut album. Wrapped in catchy industrial beats and sizzling basslines, he exposes all the rage and pain from being betrayed. Like a bad breakup, it's raw and rough and painful, but there's a strange catharsis once it's over.

It opens on a high note with the ear-blowing "Head Like A Hole," which alternates between dark techno and explosive hard-rock. "Bow down before the one you serve/you're gonna get what you deserve... Head like a hole, black as your soul/I'd rather DIE than give you control!" Reznor snarls. And he sounds like he means it, too.

That mix of rage and bitterness permeate the songs that follow. Not every song is a rockin' ragefest: "Something I Can Never Have" is a sweeping, haunted ballad with Reznor lamenting that "I'm starting to scare myself." It's one of the most powerful songs on a hard-hitting record, and shows Reznor's anguished vocals at their best.

But the majority are harder, angrier songs with Reznor's rough industrial-pop, raw singing and sparse electronic beats. The second half does drag a bit, but is pulled back up by the explosive "Sin" ("You give me the reason/you give me control/I gave you my purity/and my purity you stole!") and hauntingly out-there "Ringfinger."

"Pretty Hate Machine" could, in a sense, be seen as a concept album -- a mapping of the painful emotions in a breakup. Okay, painful breakups are not a big deal in the musical world -- every cheesy popstar does them. The difference is, Trent Reznor does them with passion, genuine anger, and explosive music that mirrors the betrayed feelings.

Reznor gets much flack for his angsty songwriting and accompanying vocal style. But it has to be admitted that even when the songwriting is sub-par -- the rather whiny, it's-God's-fault "Terrible Lie" -- Reznor's rough vocals bring them to life in all their painful glory.

This is also Nine Inch Nails' most minimalist album -- no soundscapes, just the guitars and electronics. The instrumentation matches the theme of inverted love -- Reznor throws in some poppy industrial beats, which manage to be darkly catchy and gritty at the same time. Underlying all of this is some smoldering, twisted guitar and drum machines.

Explosive rage, betrayal, confusion and pain lie at the heart of "Pretty Hate Machine," an unforgettable debut that Reznor has yet to equal in pure emotion.

Rating: - Best NIN album

Pretty Hate Machine is probably the best Nine Inch Nails album out there. The best track on this album is "Sin"; track 7. This album highly portrays a heavy amount of industrial music which is so cleverly written thanks to Trent Reznor. There are a variety of different moods on this album....from the angry "Head Like A Hole" and "Sin" to the average "That's What i Get" and "Ringfinger". I'd say "Ringfinger" is the calmest track on the album and is a nice way to conclude the album after many minutes of enjoyment. Overall, a very good album indeed for the NIN fans, and Industrial Rocker's collection.

Rating: - Light Years Ahead

Listening to Pretty hate Machine again, several years after buying it, it's hard to believe that the album is now fourteen years old. But sure enough it is, and it only goes to show how ingenius Trent Reznor was and how he still influences the music market today. I have three Nine Inch Nails albums, The Downward Spiral, Further Down the Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine, and in my oppinion this is by far the best. The reason I say this is that whilst the other albums seem a bit of a mish mash recipe of hardcore industrial and ambient noise, every song on Pretty Hate Machine straddles the line between heavy synth and metal music, creating a beautiful hybrid that puts modern day bands such as Linkin Park to shame.
From start to finish, there is not a bad song on the album; even Reznor's mock rapping on 'Down in It' stays in perfect harmony with the music. The meaningful lyrical style holds true throughout the album, delivering stark emotional messages and social commentary, whilst also injecting subtle black humour. The standout tracks on the album are 'Head Like a Hole', 'Terrible Lie', 'Something I can Never Have' and 'That's What I Get'.

In short, Trent Reznor was and still is a genius and Pretty Hate Machine is a truly landmark album that sounds as fresh today as it did fourteen years ago. And bear in mind that this review is coming from a rap fan.

Rating: - As fresh as a daisycutter...

Much livelier and more melodious than "Downward Spiral" and "The Fragile" this hit a whole generation of alternative rock fans like an industrial steamhammer when it was released at the end of the eighties. "Head Like A Hole" was still being played in rock clubs in the late nineties and "Something I Can Never Have" featured in Natural Born Killers' soundtrack, showing the enduring power of this LP. The best thing is, neither track particularly stands out (well, maybe "Something...") amidst the other songs on offer on this stunning album.
"Head..." kicks off proceedings in fine style, its angry guitar, haunting synth and Reznor's bitter vocals spitting out of your stereo leaving you breathless and on edge. The industrial sound with which NIN were often associated comes through on "Terrible Lie" before things slow down a little for "Down In It" and its surreal lyrics. "Sanctified" brings things up to an industrial snarl again before the piano intro on "Something I Can Never Have" drifts in to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
"Something..." is a masterpiece. So simple yet incredibly beautifully crafted and with an amazingly poignant image drawn through Trent's bitter-sweet lyrics.
Once it's over you feel yourself emotionally drained and it's almost a relief to have the bouncy "Kinda I Want To" kickstart you back into life.
"Sin","That's What I Get" and "Only Time" revert to the industrial rock that permeates other tracks on the album and "Ringfinger" is true to form as well, brimming with samples (spot Jane's Addiction!) and electronic beeps and drumbeats, as well as tortured guitar licks.
One of the albums that changed the direction of rock music in the late eighties and early nineties, along with the likes of Living Colour's "Vivid", Jane's Addiction's "Nothing's Shocking" and Faith No More's "Real Thing" and an essential addition to the album collection of today's army of Nu-Metallers looking to see where it all began...

Rating: - Self Descriptive Album

If you're looking for fast, heavily distorted guitars with a vocalist spitting out his anger at you then you haven't found it. What you have found is something far greater, an epic lost in the modern day haven where industrial is a label given to bands such as Static-X, Pitchshifter and Rammstein. All good in their own right (i am a fan of all 3) but most of their audience would not give enough attention to this album as it is not a fast paced active onslaught of angst.

What Pretty Hate Machine is an Epic, a collection of anthems, well written and powerful. It is an album that will reach out and grab ur soul and pull it right out from its protected human shell to convey to you pain and suffering reaching a climax, arguably but in my opinion, on "Something I Can Never Have" where if u just sit in silence and listen and allow the simple repetitive yet emotive melody take you away as it through cresendo and diminuendo support Reznor's vocals which if allowed will strike now not the soul but piercing straight to your heart till it turns black like we can only assume his own tortured dark one is.

Reznor pulls off this album with a whole lot of himself put into its creation making it a dark, tortured, confused album that is still his best work. I listen to various musical styles and bands and so it is hard to keep on my playlist but this album stands out amongst my other greats (radiohead, QOTSA, Pixies, Hendrix, KoRn, Machine Head, Op Ivy, Finch...) but it is an absolute must have by any reckoning.

Many of you may just believe that whatever we say is byist opinion but chance is uve already heard them liked them and forgotten them. If you have seen the crow and loved the atmosphere of the film it is an absolute certainty you will love this album.

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