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Nine Inch Nails: The Hand That Feeds
by Nick Cowen
Maybe the melodramatic adolescent in me isn't completely dead yet or maybe a decade-defining record and a live show that only seems to improve with age buys you more second chances than it should. Whatever the case, despite the overpacked misfire that was 'The Fragile' and the turgid no-fun zone remix album that followed it, I hit play with Trent Reznor's latest single, 'The Hand That Feeds' in the machine, and listened with white-knuckled anticipation.
The muted, twittering effects of the intro fill my ears for a couple of measures - hell it could go either way - and then the stomping drumbeat kicks in over the sleazy, churning bassline and everything's all right again. Reznor seems to have remembered the fact that his best tracks, regardless of how many demonic howls or overdriven guitars they contain, are anchored by beats that most dance artists would kill for. This single bobs and weaves like a shadow boxing prizefighter, all coiled tension and crystaline precision; then the band ratchets the noise-level up to eleven before it marches towards a bloody climax.
As the 'The Hand That Feeds' fades out, the last five years seem to disappear completely; Nine Inch Nails isn't a pretentious white elephant anymore - it's a well-oiled machine pumping out satanic grooves and crunching guitars. Forget the anti-establishment sentiment. This sucker's all about moving your hips. It's the sound of Trent getting his boogie on. Where the hell was this song five years ago?
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Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
i rather like this too.
know approximately nowt about their previous form though, other than it's taken them/him a while to get new material out, so maybe that helps...-
Re: Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
its the same for each of their albums, always takes an eternity for the next release. this is pretty much par for the course for NIN. A good track no doubt.
Its more like the early stuff than the fragile was. i hope this means good things for the new album -
Re: Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
its the same for each of their albums, always takes an eternity for the next release. this is pretty much par for the course for NIN. A good track no doubt.
Its more like the early stuff than the fragile was. i hope this means good things for the new album
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Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
I really, really like this track - can't fucking wait for the album -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
not the best song trents done by a long way ... still its nice to see him waste all these pretenders to his throne to waste with a song even he admited is the most forgettable thing hes ever released -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
damn Aaron North to hell -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
I thought it was a bit 'by numbers' for my tastes (but then... I loved 'The Fragile'!) . The main important thing is that I've got tickets to Brixton. Nothing else really matters...
(PS When is Dave Grohl going to get back to doing his own stuff? Wish I knew more about why Charlie Clouser left...he was brilliant! ) -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
it's a nice track, but nowhere near as good as the highlights of The Fragile. -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
I didn't think the new material came over all that well when I saw them at the Astoria, except this song which I had never heard before.
It is a good pop song.
I reckon Top 20 what with it being all over 6Music and I have heard it on Radio 2 and CD:UK.
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Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
It's a NIN single. Which means it's a bit generic and bland, so as not to scare the public, and the album's going to be a lot more complex and creative. I hope. -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
This isn't as good as the 'Perfect Drug' single. Infact, it's probably the worst track on the album.
BUT, the album is great.-
Re: Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
For me, Trent's persona spiralled off into egocentricity after '..Downward..', while his musical output was mostly characterised by good production ideas and commendable ambition, glossed over with turgid, sacharine MTV-friendliness and a voice which only Bono could beat for vacuous, affected, soulless tedium. And his videos made things worse by portraying him as some mysterious, 'deep' protagonist despite the complete lack of any worthy subtext. Perfect Drug being the most obvious audio and visual example. Great ideas, executed by a prime wazzock with no sense of his own ridiculousness. In the light of this, does anyone think there's a chance I'll like the new stuff?-
Re: Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
Give it a shot - I think the new album will appeal to both sets of fans - there's more piano for the Fragile lot, and more anger for the rest of us.
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Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
I thought the single was way too poppy, and didn't like it. Reznor is perfectly capable of writing something that's interesting as well as catchy, but this isn't it. -
Nine Inch Nails - The Hand That Feeds
Having heard this track an awful lot of late (and getting requests for it by the ton when DJing), I would have thought I'd be sick of it by now - but the opposite has happened, and it has grown on me like mad.
Still one of the weakest tracks on the new album though - the rest of it is superb (and pisses all over The Fragile from a very great height).
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