aglasshouse
Dark, brooding, and emotional, Trent Reznor broke onto the music scene with his 1989 album titled Pretty Hate Machine. he envisioned for a band that would, using metallic undertones to bring out a more righteous clang to his point, make points of sociopolitical commentary. This album was written and recorded to embody this spirit. Did Pretty Hate Machine accomplish what it was made for? ...No, I'd say it didn't.
The album overall achieved a good round of applause from most critics, although not all of them took well to Reznor's work. However most progressive rock fans that at the least call Reznor a 'prog' artist and his band a prog band would do well to stay away from this one. Instead of the usually dreary electronic use most commonly found in artists such as Stabbing Westward, Orgy, Ministry, and later NiN works, the album functions around a steady theme of catchy alternative rock beats and composition, albeit with some amateur technological use overlapping it.
Pretty Hate Machine brings to the table a large theme of anger, with blatantly spiteful lyrics and, as stated before, social commentary. But that doesn't excuse the fact that this album is annoying. I've seen many bands accomplish commentary such as this and do it well. A band that comes to mind are Porcupine Tree, which actually implies subtly the ideology of anti- systematical lyrics mixed in with their enjoyable music. Here, it's more along the lines of Reznor and his emo friends recording an album during their aggressive teenage phase. Other than that, the songs are just plain boring. The 'catchy' riffs used on the album are over repetitive and rely on a similar theme, giving the illusion that all of the songs are the same. The only track that I've found to stand out is the ever present 'Head Like a Hole', although even that song is just a casual listen and not material for a respectful intake of the album itself.
So, all in all, this is a skippable one. Mostly because any fan of Nine Inch Nails would enjoy their later works more than the earlier material, but even if your not a fan you would do well not to pick this one up. Alternative electronic rock? No thanks.