A former co-worker asked which NIN album is my favourite. He told me his absolute favourite was Pretty Hate Machine, followed by The Fragile and The Downward Spiral.
I think mine is Year Zero, at least currently. It varies. I loved The Fragile when it first came out, but now I feel like it’s too long and kind of meanders and doesn’t have a point. The Downward Spiral is amazing. Broken is short and sweet and noisy.
Year Zero is exciting. The whole concept is cool, and it’s fun to get an album that focuses on society as opposed to Reznor’s personal problems. The sci-fi backdrop is icing on the cake, and the songs are great as usual.
Full disclosure: The fact that it’s currently not available on Spotify might have something to do with it…