In what I could only call an attempt to one up Radiohead, Trent Reznor and the rest of the Nine Inch Nails crew released their new album The Slip, completely free online. Reznor, lead singer and creative mastermind behind NIN, released the CD himself months ago, without promotion, and it has since been downloaded 1.4 million times. Good to know I’m not the only one who loves to have free music. This album is the true successor to 2005′s With Teeth, a critically acclaimed album with the first mainstream success for NIN since 1994′s The Downward Spiral gained popularity with the single, “Closer.” Being an industrial electronic artist, usually everything on the album is digital; this has been true for Nine Inch Nails until 2005, but what these two albums have in common is the addition of live studio musicians.

The Slip was finished on a Wednesday, mastered and posted online by that same week’s Sunday. Reasons like this are why artists are choosing to have a digital release, but is it worth the space? I’m getting to that. It took me a few play-throughs before I could fairly give this album a review. The album starts out with back to back songs that flow into each other, and by the end you’ll figure out that Reznor likes to use loud, out of place noises. This may sound like a bad thing, but it isn’t. Trent Reznor is so far advanced in the art of creating music, he can make things that logically would fail, work. This CD has, as expected, very well written parts, accentuated by perfectly accompanying background effects. From what I know, old NIN fans aren’t all that big on the new format of having a band. If that’s you, then reconsider, this album features a lot of the lyrical darkness of the classic music. Although anyone who prefers this new formula – very similar to the With Teeth format – can find a liking in this album. The songs flow well and are accompanied by strong vocals by Reznor. This album retains the gritty, industrial feel that Nine Inch Nails is known for. If you’re a person who must have a CD for their collection, then by all means get this record, it’s a good listen. For us sane people, The Nine inch nails website host’s this album for free, and yes, it’s worth it.