PistolPete, I'm looking in your direction...

I only have The Downward Spiral , Ghosts I-IV, and The Slip.

I LOVE TDS, I think the latter two are nothing to scream about though.

Ooh, can I cut in??

If you like downward Spiral, check out the Fragile; a double album which covers loads of their sounds. Also, There's Pretty Hate Machine which is more industrial/dance based and With Teeth is more poppy, but not particularly brilliant. But I also think that Year Zero is one of their best: its a lot more mature and focused. Id check that one out, its really cool. Personally I couldnt get into the Slip either. It seems a bit rushed and not that good.

not a nine inch nails fan... sorry.

Granted every album is a departure from the previous, so you can't really expect TDS to carry over to the next. But in my opinion the two most important albums are The Fragile and Year Zero. Both are great, pretty much every song.

The Fragile
- Somewhat Damaged
- The Frail/The Wreched
- We're in this Together
- The Fragile
- Just Like You Imagined
- No, You Don't
- The Great Below
- Where Is Everybody?
- Starfuckers, Inc.
- The Big Comedown

Year Zero
- The Beginning of the End
- Suvivalism
- Me, I'm Not
- My Violent Heart
- God Given
- The Great Destroyer

With Teeth
- You Know What You Are?
- The Hand That Feeds
- With Teeth
- Sunspots
- Right Where It Belongs

Pretty Hate Machine
- Head Like a Hole
- Terrible Lie
- Down In It
- Something I Can Never Have

Other necessary songs:
The Perfect Drug - Lost Highway Soundtrack
Burn - Natural Born Killers Soundtrack
The Becoming - Still EP

Cool, I think I'll try The Fragile.

The reason why I liked TDS so much (and The Slip not as much) is because of the feeling and mood of the whole album was like an utter decay. It's an extreme emotional expression.

Is The Fragile similar in this vein, or any other albums?

As with PHM, I've only heard "Down In It" and I was pretty put off.

doomsdayclock wrote:
not a nine inch nails fan... sorry.

Uhh...

You'll really like the The Fragile then. It's actually much darker than The Downward Spiral as it was written when Trent was sobering up in the late 90's. Some tracks are more aggressive, but that underlying tone is still there. It's really cool because the songs feed into one another. If you listen to the whole album you'll notice that some songs share the same bass lines, or notes, or even lyrics despite having a completely different feel.

ohhh i love nin.

the fragile is my favorite album by them. all those songs are completely stellar. real talk. especially somewhat damaged and the fragile. this album has been in my car for about six months. i just can't take it out.

i love them all, but the Fragile is definitely my favorite as well. Pilgramage sounds like a rollercoaster ride through hell. I love it. And it hit me earlier this year that Just Like You Imagined was the song used in the trailer for the movie 300. Overall i think this is their best album. I love them all go and you should definitely check them all out.

Then It's settled, The Fragile will be the next NIN album I get, and it will kick the snot out of Ghosties and Slippy

Broken EP!
Not one song I dont like on it! very similar to Downward spiral.

Not too keen on "Fixed" (the Broken remix) but its still OK.

As per others recomendations above, Fragile is very good.

My favourites in order

Downward Spiral
Broken EP
Fragile
With Teeth
Year Zero
The Slip
Pretty Hate Machine (1 or 2 great songs but mostly album fillers)
Fixed EP

You can download for free a load of instrumental stuff and some more remixes from the NIN web site, some of which are also very good.

Geek N.Z. wrote:
Then It's settled, The Fragile will be the next NIN album I get
Thoughts?

You need to get Further Down The Spiral. It's brillaint, beautiful, haunting, moody and will give you a whole different view of The Downward Spiral.

PistolPete wrote:
Geek N.Z. wrote:
Then It's settled, The Fragile will be the next NIN album I get
Thoughts?

I haven't got it yet. Perhaps I will steal it on the internet, seeing as Trent encourages piracy.

Yarr. Ya scurvy cur.

Just listened to the Left disc of The Fragile . Not quite as good as TDS, but still pretty good.

Maybe I should try Broken next.

You will like Broken

Broken's one of the single most impactful CDs I've heard. Perhaps you could try out the live album, And All That Could Have Been...it's kinda like a greatest hits, but each of the songs is even more "epic" than their original...also the Still EP, disc 2 of the collector's edition of AATCHB, which has some amazing songs on it (the closing instrumental, Leaving Hope, is absolutely beautiful).

Aaand...listen to the Right Disc of The Fragile! The Way Out Is Through is one of the best openers ever.

I'm in love with pretty much the entire NIN catalogue, save for Pretty Hate Machine...but even then the live versions of Terrible Lie, Head Like a Hole, Sin, The Only Time, AND Down In It are all fantastic.