It has been a decade since Trent Reznor unleashed The Downward Spiral on a pop-crazed world. It remains a masterpiece of pop music – ahead of its time and of its time – all at the same time. This CD, along with Jagged Little Pill, Fat of the Land, Bloodsugarsexmagick and Phonosynthesis, remain the highest played CDs in my collection. Spiral remains a favorite for early morning workouts and evokes great writing from me.
I was eager to get the Deluxe Edition which has been remastered into 5.1 surround sound for play on SACD players or DVD players with 5.1 receivers. This time the familiar sounds and channels are spread out all around you and the whole experience is much more immersive – more of a soundscape than before – which makes sense since Spiral comprised an entire worldview of brutality, oppression, lurid sexuality and finally remorse in 70 minutes.
True NIN-heads: only buy the 1-cd set – you already have most of the songs on the second CD.
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