The Depths · All albums

The Fragile

Nine Inch Nails · 1999

• Scores: Noise 3, Unease 4, Complexity 3 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Industrial, Rock, Industrial rock
• Mood: bleak, sprawling, fragile
• Sound: double album, ambient interludes, piano, layered noise, instrumental pieces, dense production

The Fragile is a 23-track double album and a concept album that Trent Reznor described as a sequel to The Downward Spiral. He made it over more than two years at Nothing Studios in New Orleans with Alan Moulder and Bob Ezrin, who also sequenced it, and with Steve Albini engineering some of the drums. It moves away from heavily distorted industrial music towards soundscapes, electronic beats, ambient noise and melodic harmonies, with rock guitar still present. There are whole instrumental tracks, vocals are often sparse and softer than before, and the tracks are densely overdubbed, with prepared-piano melodies in the vein of John Cage. It starts with “Somewhat Damaged” and ends with “Ripe (With Decay)”, and its progressive and art rock influences include King Crimson, Roxy Music, Autechre and Squarepusher.

Track list

1. Left
2. Somewhat Damaged (4:31)
3. The Day the World Went Away (4:33)
4. The Frail (1:54)
5. The Wretched (5:25)
6. We’re in This Together (7:16)
7. The Fragile (4:35)
8. Just Like You Imagined (3:49)
9. Even Deeper (5:47)
10. Pilgrimage (3:31)
11. No, You Don’t (3:35)
12. La Mer (4:37)
13. The Great Below (5:17)
14. Right
15. The Way Out Is Through (4:17)
16. Into the Void (4:49)
17. Where Is Everybody? (5:40)
18. The Mark Has Been Made (5:15)
19. Please (3:31)
20. Starfuckers, Inc. (5:00)
21. Complication (2:31)
22. I’m Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally (4:14)
23. The Big Come Down (4:12)
24. Underneath It All (2:46)
25. Ripe (With Decay) (6:34)