Nine Inch Nails & The Industrial Uprising:
Metal Machine Music (MVD DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Documentary: B
Free of the major labels after so much major label
success, Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor are free to record on their own and
sell everything new through
their website, where sales a huge. The
makers of the Under Review series of music documentaries is back with a
look at trends in Industrial Music as a genre starting with the likes of
Kraftwerk (see separate coverage by the same producers elsewhere on this site)
to the amazing success of Nine Inch Nails in Nine Inch Nails & The Industrial Uprising: Metal Machine Music.
The
in-joke of the title of this two hours, 15 minutes journey into is that Metal Machine Music is also the title
of the infamous 1975 Lou Reed double album that was career suicide at the time
while he was signed to RCA Records with nothing but instrument noises that are
or are not music, but that is another essay.
Here, we
see the early days of Reznor in other bands while Industrial was picking up,
then see how things fall into place for him as Nine Inch Nails is formed
and keeps having commercial success that defies the marketplace and critical
success that makes them a serious force in a music industry just starting its
decline. The output is remarkable,
innovative, bold, cutting edge and often intentionally disturbing, yet it works
and this program really delivers the goods.
It is a disc NIN fans must have and serious music fans must at least see
once.
The 1.33 X 1 image is PAL-originated but seems as soft as
NTSC with part of the problem being so much of the footage is vintage analog
tape, usually NTSC. Other footage looks
better, but this is below the series usual consistency and likely beyond their
control in this case. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo is simple and has no surrounds, though nothing in the CD format
could rival the SA-CD version of The
Downward Spiral in the Deluxe Edition double set that is quickly becoming a
collector’s item or the out-of-print DualDisc version of With Teeth featuring a CD side and a far stronger DVD-Audio/MLP
sound side showing off how remarkable the sonics of these albums are. If you can play SA-CD or DVD-Audio, you can
hear the music in stunning 5.1 multi-channel sound and are both strongly
recommended. Extras include text on the
interviewees and a 14+ minutes featurette called The Genesis Of Industrial.
For more on Nine Inch Nails, try these links to our
coverage of two of their key albums on CD:
The
Downward Spiral
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2729/Nine+Inch+Nails+-+The+Downward
With
Teeth
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2740/Nine+Inch+Nails+-+With+Teeth+(CD)
- Nicholas Sheffo
