Into The Never: Nine Inch Nails And The Creation Of The Downward S

NIN is one of my overall favorite bands/acts. I may be biased because I do think Trent Reznor is interesting, but, if you're an avid fan of NIN, this book is for you.

Words

This is, quite frankly, a superb and brilliantly constructed biography of one of my all-time favourite albums, NIN's 'The Downward Spiral'.Superbly written, this is at all times presents astute, insightful analysis examining the recording process, biographical events, socio-political contexts and philosophical and psychoanalytical theory. Other cultural texts and artefacts are likewise explored and connections effortless drawn with the album. There’s a brilliant comparative analysis, for example, of Manic Street Preachers’s ‘The Holy Bible’ (another favourite album of mine) and ‘Spiral’ at one point, simultaneously examining the artistic modus operandi of both Reznor and Edwards and the thematic and lyrical content of both outputs.There are some superb nuggets of information in there, too (I particularly found fascinating the identification of the various movie samples that were used on the album), and I found myself reaching for the album and listening to each track, in a different way, as they were discussed in the book.It seemed fitting, too, that one of the longest sections of analysis was concerning the shortest song on the album, ‘Big Man With a Gun’, but the discussions of toxic masculinity and gun violence (without treading old ground with regard to these debates) really shone a new light on a track that can sometimes seem a little crass and too ‘obvious’.The book concludes, artfully, with a retrospective of Reznor’s soundtrack work and later albums, but never losing sight of the main subject matter, ‘Spiral’, carefully examining the personal and artistic journey that led from this brutal, devastating and ground-breaking album of 1994 to the Oscar-winning creator of movie soundtracks.Overall, I gobbled this up and I know it will be a book that will end up well-thumbed and dog-eared as I continue in the future to dip into it and refresh myself with its on-point analysis.

Absolutely loved this book. The downward spiral will always have a special spot in my heart and this book took me back to the early/mid nineties. I’ve read a lot of so so books on nin, but this one blew them all away. Loved how it quoted so many interviews from the time. If you’re a nine inch nails fan just buy it, you won’t be disappointed.

This was a great casual and informative read into the mind of Trent during this period of time!