June 2007: Nine Inch Nails It, But Aguilera Is a Dud
By By Robert Christgau for MSN Music: Consumer Guide on June 13, 2007
No matter how clichéd Trent Reznor's dystopian fantasies may be -- and they have their moments, like the rebels who conquer by crawling and the anti-Bush anthem rendered juicier by its deliberate inconsistencies -- it has the virtue of getting him out of himself. And though he may warn of the noise here, it's all just modern music, whooshing and phasing hookily hither and yon. Is it a coincidence that he created his most songful album just when he stopped obsessing on his own dubious agony? Nah -- it's fate.
Grade: A-Transcribed by JessicaSarahS