Customer Reviews
No one likes to pay to hear somone jam - By: Mr. C. J. Parker, 18 Aug 2008 
In a discussion recently I remarked to a friend how Nine Inch Nails are the only band who [in my opinion] have never made a bad album. However, I now take my comment back. While the production of the album is first rate, the songs falll far from the industrial noise come conceptual evolutions that have propelled Trent Reznor through the last decades. The opening track (999,999) gives intriguing promise, only to give way to the disappointing melodic electronica that doesn't subside. There is one diamond in the rough though; The Four of us in Here Are Dying. However this instrumental is not enough to rescue the sinking ship that is 'the slip'. Ultimately this album feels little more than Trent Reznor & friends jamming in their studio. Full marks for being bold enough to try a new direction, but this time the goods are simply not delivered. Buy this album to fill up your collection, but if you want to experience NIN [Trent] at his best, go buy The Fragile
3 1/2 out of 5 - By: Jordan Swales, 11 Aug 2008 
hey i felt that the first 1/3 of the album was a bit weak personaly but the second half is right up there with the rest. i can't help but feel like this release is just a colection of year zero B-sides though. still worth a looking inbut if your new to the bend start else where.
NIN come up with the goods once again - great album! - By: L. Green, 05 Aug 2008 
Barcode: 0766929934627
I've seen a fair few reviews across the media referring to The Slip as 'Nine Inch Nail's most accesible album', & i a way i can see what they're getting at. The way the album was made available as a free download (a good way for new fans to try out some of the band's material), a catchy lead single in the form of Discipline & at only 10 tracks long, the final product comes across as a slick, modern & concise demonstation of Trent Reznor's intent.
Cruciallly though, it also explores a large number of facets of the NIN sound. As with the masterpiece Year Zero, The Slip begins with an eerie instrumental that builds to full volume over a minute & a half. As always with NIN material, each track is a carefully constructed soundscape, every element there for a reason & what i love most about The Slip is that it displays this element of the band at it's best while at the same time delivering some of the band's most instant material to date.
1,000,000 is the first example of this. With a pulsating, distorted hook & a classic angsty vocal from Trent, screeching siren-esque sounds add to the relentless energy & power that emmanates from tracks like this & Discipline, building on the template displayed in previous tracks like The Hand That Feeds & Survivalism but giving it a new rawness that only adds to the tracks' appeal.
Letting You takes this rawness to practiaclly bestial levels while Discipline is a slick number seeing NIN at their most commercial. It is songs like this that show the true genius of Trent Reznor, his skill at writing a song with as many hooks as this that worms its way into your mind & upon the first listen already sounds like a classic.
Echoplex is another highlight, a rhythmic guitar line packed over an infectious beat. We soon come to Lights In The Sky, which marks a change in the mood of the album. The first half is fast & relentless while the second half is slower, moody & altogether more atmospheric.
Lights In The Sky is a beuautiful track, just Trent & a piano. This is The Slip at it's most intimate, haunting & melancholy. This then leads into the 7 & a half minute slice of electronica that is Coron Radiata. These two tracks together bring to mind the song Another Version Of The Truth on Year Zero & while those new to the band might find this aspect quite daunting, the fact it is so open to interpretation only serves to intice you further into the music. The album is then nicely bookended by the sleazy grind of Demon Seed.
So, on the whole, i think Year Zero was a better album, but then, presented as a concept piece - it was meticulously planned whereas The Slip sounds like Trent Reznor, free from his old record label, exploring himself & the world around him with complete freedom. Year Zero presented a cold, frightening picture of an alternate future whereas The Slip is about the right now, the present, is full of an untamed fire & passion that sees NIN on top form. Whether you're new to the band & want to try some of their material out or whether you're a long-time fan, The Slip is well worth getting your hands on. The fact it's a limited edition of 250,000 copies & comes with a bonus DVD featuring live material is even more incentive to get this brilliant album.
Another Gift! - By: Dean Maberly, 04 Aug 2008 
I just wanted to point out that what Mr Reed said in a previous review:
'"Discipline" features a vocal mistakenly introduced (and hastily silenced) a bar too early due to a rushed mix'
is clearly incorrect! Do you reallly think trent would have alllowed a mistake to remain on a song?? (let alone the lead single!)It is clearly an intentional stutter meant to add more realism to the mood of the song. Just thought i'd clear that up.
(it's a great album by the way)
Heresy - 85,601 / 250,000 - By: The Wolf, 31 Jul 2008 Is the hand on Mr.Reznor's shoulder, on the front cover artwork of my
individuallly numbered CD/DVD set (and how lucky am I feeling about that?),
keeping him in the same place or preventing him from moving forward ?
The dilemma of continuity versus development stands at the still beating
heart of Nine Inch Nails' most recent offering 'The Slip'.
I have long been an admirer of Mr Reznor & his vision.
I emphasise admirer rather than devotee, many of whom would appear
to have made a happy home here on Planet Amazon.
Devotees are, by their very nature, absorbed by & committed to the
understanding & discussion of minutiae.
There is of course nothing inherently wrong with obsession but it
sometimes inhibits the sufferer's ability to stand back & see the
whole picture for want of examining each individual brushstroke.
Against a back catalogue including such peerless gems as 'The Downward Spiral',
'The Fragile', 'With Teeth' & the sublime 'Year Zero',
'The Slip' is a somewhat desultory affair.
Creative freedom is not a cast iron guarantee of quality control.
These ten tracks contribute little to the body of work that we have
come to know & love.
The electricity is still there intermittently...but only just.
Opening track, '999,999' made me sit upright with raw anticipation.
I held my breath too soon.
'1,000,000', 'Letting You' & 'Discipline' are then trundled out in
workmanlike fashion. Drums forward, voice mixed way back.
The heart of these musical ideas however is essentiallly recycled.
'Echoplex' is an undifferentiated mess.
'Head Down' & 'Demon Seed' almost approach past glories.
'The Four Of Us Are Dying' is a tired & banal instrumental interlude.
For my money (...and yes I did buy it) 'Lights In The Sky' & its'
umbral echo 'Corona Radiata' are technicallly & emotionallly riveting.
The saying "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it" carries some
credence but I'm reallly beginning to feel that the NIN formula
is running out of steam.
There's nothing wrong with continuity of course.
Palindromic cohorts ABBA managed it within their own world for years.
A little development would none-the-less have been warmly welcomed.
