Still, even with all that precedent, Reznor must've done something to usher industrial music into the mainstream. I'd even go so far as to affix Reznor with the cliché label "ahead of his time," despite the decade's worth of Wax Trax! 12-inches that surely influenced him. And surprisingly, for music built on what I'm sure was cutting edge audio technology of the early 90s, The Downward Spiral sounds only the slightest bit aged, and not too far flung from the aggro-beats that still rule alt-rock formats. Now that I'm old, boring, and presumably less susceptible to the trappings of angst, it's possible to peel back that surface layer of fishnet and makeup and take a peek at the music underneath. Sure, NIN might have provided a perfect dose of loud guitars and screaming to score my melodramatic years, but what most drew me to collect Halos was the atmosphere: fake snuff film videos, drummer microphone injuries, the Sharon Tate murder house, and lyrical self-mutilation that made Cobain sound like Vedder. When the album was first released, I wasn't concerned with any technological achievements Trent Reznor may have been conjuring- I was too distracted by his concepts of fucking like animals, god being dead (and no one caring), and I am a big man yesIam. Well, among the many public services of the reissue is to remind us that there is usually nothing new under the musical sun, and so now, here's a 10th anniversary edition of The Downward Spiral to remind me that The Postal Service are just NIN in a better mood.
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