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The Fragile

By Hekon Moslet for Dagbladet, Norway(www.dagbladet.no) on October 12, 1999

It took 5 years for Trent Reznor to follow up the nineties' pivotal record, "The Downward Spiral". "The Fragile" is 100 minutes of futuristic rock. Perfected noise, uncomfortable industrial sound and monstrous pop secures NIN an important position also at the end of the decade. The commercial position is undisputable after 229 000 Americans ran out and bought "The Fragile" last week. Musically the album confirms Nine Inch Nails' reputation as USA's most important band in the post-grunge epoch. NIN is contemporary front line rock, driven by pure angst and desperation, finely minced and cooled down with sly and authoritarian production techniques, made avaiable with a Beatlesesqe sensitivity for melodies. "The Wall" producer Bobo Ezrin lurks in the background, and when you mix the alienating feeling from this album, the dry, violent soundscape from Manson's "The Dope Show" and the most insanely great stadium rock choruses, you get a sound that gives rock of '99 a very good reputation. A grand album, just too bad Reznor hasn't managed to weed out a couple of mediocre moments on the mastadont[sic] album.

Transcribed by Keith Duemling

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