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 - I love it, but this is my first NIN album.Let me get this straight: I love NIN, but this is the first CD I've gotten by them. Almost all the songs I've heard from them are great, but I'm not an avid fan. I heard that Nine Inch Nails were coming out with a new album, so I listened to the first single, "The Hand That Feeds." Loved it. The song is bass-driven, which, speaking as a bassist myself, is awesome. Plus, Dave Grohl drums on that song, adding to the fantastic-ness of it. Later, I heard the next single, "Only," great song, but not as good as "The Hand That Feeds." I finally decided to get the album after that. When listening to the album, I started loving their bassist more and more. I recently got the "All that Could Have Been: Live" VHS, and I was surprised: no bass player. I like the older songs more, but I prefer a bass player. Back to the album, most of the songs are bass-driven, or have a prominent bass line. This album will disappoint fans who love their harder songs, although it has a few. The album is more melodic songs, with Trent screaming sometimes. On a side note, all of the instruments are superb, but especially the drums. 1. All The Love In The World: 10/10 It takes a while to speed up, but it's well worth the wait. My favorite song on the CD, by far. 2. You Know What You Are?: 8/10 The chorus is just about as hard as "March of the Pigs," but isn't as good. 3. The Collector: 9/10 The drums are great in this song. Just wow. 4. The Hand That Feeds: 9.5/10 Another harder song that doesn't disappoint. 5. Love Is Not Enough: 8/10 This song kinda reminds me of Tool, but I don't think it's that great. 6. Every Day Is Exactly The Same: 8.5/10 Lyrics are good, but not much else. 7. With Teeth: 9.5/10 Wow. Awesome. The bass and the drums work so well together, plus the chorus is sweet. 8. Only: 9/10 It's amazing how long this song will be stuuck in your head. Not joking. 9. Getting Smaller: 9/10 Again, a hard, fast song. 10. Sunspots: 8.5/10 Doesn't work up to much, but when it gets there, it's good. 11. The Line Begins To Blur: 8/10 Great drums, but the rest of the song could've been better. 12. Beside You In Time: 9/10 Strange. All I can say, really. 13. Right Where It Belongs: 9.5/10 One hell of a track, one hell of a way to end the album. Rating:  - A little watered...and hey....this sounds very familiar.....Trent Reznor has created some amazing masterpieces in the past with "The Downward Spiral" ,"The Fragile", and "Pretty Hate Machine". I am not a big fan of works earlier than "Pretty Hate Machine". "Downward Spiral" is a deeply personal and twisted journey into the mind of an addict, and the dark and morphed world that he lives in. The journey takes you to worlds and realms that are very hard to describe, worlds and realms beyond "normal" human experience. "The Fragile" has to be my all-time favorite NIN album. This album chronicles the world of a recovering addict, still roaming through strange worlds and realms. "The Fragile" in my opinion has the most coherent and beautiful music with each song being a landcape of mystery and great songwriting. Not even counting the remix albums of these two releases, which are amazing as well and must haves for any NIN fan or experimental music lover. "With Teeth" is NIN's latest release, and I have to say that I am very disappointed. Before I even start with this album, NIN changed their style from Industrial to "mainstream". Sure, "The Fragile" was a lot less Industrial than "The Downward Spiral", but "With Teeth" is a pop-music album, there's no doubt about that. First of all, the singles off of this album are okay. They sound like New-Wave and seem like Trent is trying to win over the newer, younger kids that are getting into his music by conforming to what is popular on the radio. The rest of the album lacks the same vision we see on the radio. "With Teeth" also has a very similar song structure to "The Fragile", yet at the same time brings a new sound to the NIN discography. There is a new set of band members as well, which is the usual procedure for NIN. I think that there is a different line up on every album that Trent concieves. I cannot say that this new sound is great at all, rather it sounds stale and boring. Each song seems mis-guided and there is a lack of direction on this album. There are some heavy tracks, one being the opening track which features Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters fame on drums, a decent song but somewhat lacking. The softer songs on the album are not really all that great, and they don't envoke much emotion. Basically, this album lacks soul. If Trent did that on purpose or not is unknown, but to me, I feel that Trent is growing old and now that he has nothing to complain or whine about, his song writing has suffered, as well as him musical direction. All of the artists that were huge in the 90's seem to lose their vision and musical direction these days. So it's not all that suprising, but I have alway felt that NIN was a remarkable group and never thought they would lose their creativity. But a loss of creativity is apparant on this album for sure. All bands evolve, that's part of life, and the ones that don't usually kill off their fans with repetition. But this change is not worth it, and seems to be designed to be more "friendly" to media sources. I am sure hardcore NIN fans will pick this up or already own it. IF you are the casual NIN fan then..... Buy at your own risk. Rating:  - Pump UpThis ablum serves a great purpose of pumping me up on the ride work. What better way to start the day on the stinky subway than "The Hand that Feeds" blasting on the iPOD? It's almost as good as "The Wretched" which is still be best NYC Subway song... Rating: - Solid, but weaker than its predecessorsOne of the major problems facing many artists is that, once they have released an all-time classic album, us heartless music fans want, nay DEMAND, equal or greater brilliance from any future albums. Just ask the Young brothers (Angus and Malcolm) how much pressure they felt after AC/DC released "Back in Black". It is little coincidence that it took Acca Dacca almost a decade to finally achieve another cult-rock offering, the inimitable "Thunderstruck." Such was the problem faced by Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails with the release of With Teeth. This album was following on from not only one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, The Downward Spiral, but also from Trent's most sophisticated and complex offering, The Fragile. What's worse is that with a six-year gap between albums, fans were expecting something special from With Teeth. And, to be perfectly honest, there is nothing truly special here. In comparison to all albums released in 2005 (boy bands and Britney Spears et. al.), this album ranks very highly. In comparison to the other albums released by Nine Inch Nails, this album ranks as one of the worst. The major problem is that, with all of his other abums, Trent was achieving real, ground-breaking progress in the development of a new and unique style of music. Pretty Hate Machine, The Downward Spiral and The Fragile all seemed to take his music to a new level of originality. With Teeth makes no forward momentum whatsoever in this regard, and thus will never achieve the cult status reserved for the Nine Inch Nails albums preceeding it. There ARE, however, still some moments of musical brilliance on this cd, from the opening ballad "All the Love in the World" and the fascinating final few songs "Sunspots", "The Line Begins to Blur" and "Right Where It Belongs." However, there are some major disappointments in between. "You Know What You Are?" seems to be a shallow attempt by Trent to recapture some of the rage that was evident in his previous albums, but he clearly doesn't have that anger and dissatisfaction anymore. "The Hand That Feeds" is almost painfully like a contemporary pop song, a style that most would never expect or want to hear Trent reverting to. "Every Day Is Exactly the Same", "Only" and the title track "With Teeth" are both impeded by over-indulgent musical refrains that detract enormously from the lyrics and 'meat' of the tracks. But most importantly, these songs all seem to be rehashes of old styles, most notably those evident in Pretty Hate Machine. This album gets three stars because there are some great moments and tracks here, reminding us all that Trent and Nine Inch Nails are still capable of achieving the type of musicianship that ranks them as an all-time great band. However, this album pales into insignificance when compared to the band's previous offerings, and frankly does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Pretty Hate Machine, The Downward Spiral or The Fragile. Put simply, Trent seemed capable of writing better music when he was an angry, substance-abusing young man. I am sure that he has achieved more happiness and satisfaction in his life as a well-adjusted member of society. Unfortunately for music fans everywhere, it seems that the contentment in Trent's life has eroded the intensity and angst which made him one of the greatest musicians of the 1990s. Rating: - Coming from a person who never heard of NIN until With Teeth.On my usual trip to Borders, I usually pick up a few comics (usually in subsequent volumes) and a CD (depending on how much I can afford). Well, my decision was either between Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" or Nine Inch Nails' "With Teeth"; it was almost time to leave the store and I was deciding over the two albums until I'd come to a conclusion where I'd buy "With Teeth, so I purchased it (the UK version, for some odd reason, they didn't carry the US version, lucky for me, this version didn't have an "EXPLICIT CONTENT" sticker, so I wouldn't get slapped on the wrist for buying it) I sat down at home popped the CD into the CD player and sat playing my PS2, really not noticing anything. Two days later, in fact, I had to leave on a family trip by car (Northeast Ohio to Ocean City takes 10 hrs minimum), so I took only two CDs (this is when my music taste was quite "premature", so I didn't have what you would consider a CD collection--the albums were With Teeth and typically, American Idiot, an album that EVERY AMERICAN 12 YEAR OLD OWNS) and sat in the car for 10 hours listening to ONLY With Teeth. Why? Being 12 years old, obviously I wasn't able to take in the tracks beside "Hand that Feeds"--taking all of that time listening, I came up with ONLY 5 tracks that I liked--"Hand that Feeds", "You Know What You Are", "The Collector", "Getting Smaller" and I'd occasionally listen to "Home" (which was a B-side to HtF exclusively on the UK version). The rest of the tracks were what I considered "boring"--maybe I was too young to understand the rest, I was too busy watching MTV to even bother with picking up my CD player and listening to With Teeth again. Now, fast-forward about 11 months, I've gone through the transition of going from Elementary School to Junior High, from going to a school where I had friends to a school where I knew nobody and was rejected, from being social to being isolated to being social, and the list goes on; I guess you could say With Teeth grew on me as I went through more and was able to relate with the music--the lyrics matter more to me now than they did when I was a 12 year old seeking quick and catchy songs. The first track, "All the Love in the World", isn't really a good song to kick off the album--it's slow and repetitive, though the instrumentals have a darkwave and a Closer-esque sound. "You Know What You Are?" is a sharp contrast from the beginning track, where [....] is said nearly twenty times, the lyrics, meaningless and dull, but the beat is quick which makes up for the lyrical nonsense that sounds like Eminem doing a Slipknot cover. "The Collector" is easily one of my favorite songs on the album, angsty yet perseverant, the bass pounds out as the drummer beats the march beat--the piano drizzles out the last notes as the storm ends. "Hand that Feeds" is once again, a more bass-oriented song, so obviously, it's more "dancy" with the quick pace--though it doesn't compare to the other songs. "Love is not enough" is a bit whiny, but as always, Trent tells it as it is even if it's ugly, much like this track. "Everyday Is Exactly the Same" is the most accessible song on the album, U2-esque? Wow, that's different for industrial-metal. The lyrics describe boredom of boredom, you can love, hate, or keep it the same. "With Teeth" seems to tell the story of a drug that you love (which apparently is a woman), but its 'teeth' kill you and change you--WITH-UH TEETH-UH, was laughable. "Only" is a narcissistic theme song, suitable for today's teenage generation and population that simply repeats "THERE IS NO YOU THERE IS ONLY ME, THERE IS NO [....]ing YOU THERE IS ONLY ME", yet a catchy song. "Getting Smaller" was formerly my favorite song on With Teeth, I used to want nu-metal on it and this was what I wanted, thumbing bass, Trent's merciless yells and lyrics, it all flows quickly through this speed tunnel. "Line Begins To Blur" has a heavier industrial edge than the other songs, repent for sins, yet the sins lead to consequence; the background blares in your ears as Trent's screams of repent drown. "Beside You In Time", a great and ambient song, and you don't know what you're being led into next, a heavy and angry song (like "You Know What You Are) or a more quiet and at rest song such as "Everyday Is Exactly the Same". Eventually we get a more quiet rest to conclusion the album, "Right Where It Belongs", where the main character finds his place, hell or heaven, his place has been found, and the lyrics are brilliant--"What if everything around you isn't quite as it seems, What if all the world around you is an elaborate dream?" speculation of reality. The finally track, and a GREAT finish is "Home", where everything seems to unite once when it is where it belongs--drums pound throughout the song, and Trent sings until it comes to an end. Key songs: *The Collector *Hand that Feeds *Everyday Is Exactly the Same *Only *Getting Smaller *Beside You In Time *Right Where It Belongs *Home TO PEOPLE WHO ARE/WERE NEW TO NIN, SUCH AS I: After the first few listens, if you find that this album is not worth listening to, listen alittle more, then put it away for awhile. Pick it up, and listen to it again, you might come to appreciate it more as time goes by. Plus, I highly reccomend buying the imported version of With Teeth that has "Home" on it, you won't be disappointed and you don't know what you're missing. TO NIN FANS FROM THE PRETTY HATE MACHINE OR DOWNWARD SPIRAL DAYS: I'm sure you guys won't like this album, there aren't many songs that sound similar to the heavier and angrier earlier albums, and it sounds more like a rock album than an industrial metal album.
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