With Teeth kinna got leaked. No, not track 7 from the album; the whole album. So I have it. No, I won't give it to you. It's not
that hard to find yourself. It was leaked last Thursday, so you shouldn't have too much trouble. I did it myself, with a nudge from Will, but his help wasn't entirely vital. As for the album... it kicks ass. Two or three tracks are going to have to grow on me, but that's normal for a NIN album. First listen, it was off-putting. The thing about new NIN is that when you get a new, full-length album plopped in front of you, it's understandably off-putting because of how long we went without new material. But most of the songs were either great on the first listening or great on the second. Like I said, only two or three tracks haven't taken root yet. I'm still going to buy the real thing when it comes out in a few weeks, of course, as should you, free-loading vagrant. Get a job. Here's my personal quick review of the album... your mileage may vary:
01 All the Love in the World: The send-off for the album is immediately in the "off-putting" catagory because of the drums. Usually, when Trent uses synth drums, he still does a great job with them, but I'm sure this is a stylistic choice. The hook is simple and catchy. And the layering of voices at the end is pretty sweet. Trent actually sings more than screams here. Not that he can't scream on key, but it's just a bit different. (Edit: I said off-putting, but I didn't say that I really liked it. It's unusual for something Trent put together, but it's still really good.)
02 You Know What You Are?: I had to place this in the "needs further review" catagory. It's fast-paced and pretty cool, but... I don't know. That's why it needs further review.
03 The Collector: Ok, this is With Teeth's entry to the "fucked-up time signature" collection of Trent's portfolio. It's also cool, but it hasn't grabbed me yet. It's close, but I just seem to forget it. Maybe it just gets drowned out by all the great stuff that comes later.
04 The Hand That Feeds: Well, if you haven't heard this by now, why are you even reading all this shit?
05 Love is Not Enough: I know, it sounds like a Bond movie. Close. This is growing on me, but it's not quite there yet. It's easier to describe the ones I like... because I can't put my finger on what I
don't like about the few that I don't like.
06 Everyday is Exactly the Same: The first track on the CD I liked immediately. This track rules. It starts off with a neat little, out-of-tune piano, and then the synth stuff jumps out at you. The lyrics work better, and you can actually hear Trent sing again.
07 With Teeth: This one has grown on me, though the chorus is still a bit funny to me. The chorus is just "With Teeth" repeated four times, except Trent says it like the title above (A-with-uh teeth-uh), which is the way I wrote it down when I was writing out the lyrics. So, I probably ruined the song for myself because I did that. But I like the song as a whole. The chorus, though a hair silly, is forgivable.
08 Only: Trent goes back to his Down in It days and puts together a spoken-word song. He even references Down in It directly, by mentioning that tiny little dot that caught his eye... turns out it was a scab. This track took a second listening, but I like it. I guess, all I'm doing is saying "I like it, or I don't like it yet" rather than describe the song, but I'm not a fucking music review writer so shut up, I'm trying. (PS - This is apparently going to be the next single, after "The Hand that Feeds.")
09 Getting Smaller: One of the tracks that was leaked already. This sounds like a Foo Fighters song, but with Trent singing, and heavier, crunchier guitars. That's not a bad thing, mind you.
10 Sunspots: This song sounds almost like Weezer or something like that... I think it's the bass and the simple drum riff. The refrain sounds more like older-school NIN. It's a cool song. There's this interesting synth sound at the end, which people have said sounds like a drill, I hear the drill, but after hearing it in my car, it sounds more like a blender or a mixer... not that it really matters what home appliance it might sound like.
11 The Line Begins to Blur: When I first heard this leaked on the net, I had the same problem I think a lot of people had, and that is that the guitars sound like they're clipping (that they're too loud/heavy). At first, I thought maybe it was a shitty rip that had been normalized wrong and clipped the guitars. But it grew on me pretty quick, and it actually sounds right to me.
12 Beside You in Time: This is the track that's used in the teaser trailer on nin.com. Basically... if you've watched the trailer, you've heard this whole song. The pieces from the trailer are just repeated longer, and then there are lyrics not in the trailer. I was really anticipating this track, because of that trailer, and it's not as huge of a pay-off as one would expect from Trent, but it really still is a good track.
13 Right Where it Belongs: Wow. Hurt, it's not. The Great Below, it's not. But this is still a damn good track. The weird thing about this track is how fast it grew on me, it doesn't sound like NIN at all, yet somehow sounds like it's perfectly normal for a NIN track. It's like a wing of Trent's creativity that was always part of his repertoire, he just never made any songs in this catagory. I can't really describe it any other way. Just buy the album or at least download this thing.
Now that I have heard that in Winamp, that is the shiznite. I'm going to go finish listening to it over one more time and go to sleep.
