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| track 1: | pinion |
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| track 2: | wish |
| track 3: | last |
| track 4: | help me i am in h*ll |
| track 5: | happiness in slavery |
| track 6: | gave up |
| SECRET | TRACKS |
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| track 7: | physical (you're so) |
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| track 8: | suck |
| pinion |
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Pinion is an amazing start to this EP. I love the steady crescendo of the overdriven guitar riff. Even if it's simplistic, it gets the message across - this EP is full of rage and this forboding instrumental perfectly aligns the listener with the overall theme.
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| wish |
Wish is a song full of resentment and rage, exploding with noise and screaming. I love how the guitar is so distorted you can barely distinguish it from the other instruments. This song also has the iconic "fist-f*ck" line, which of course gives bonus points. Generally the lyrics of Wish are very good and snappy, as well as aggressive. The first lyric of this song, "This is the first day of my last days," falls a bit flat in my opinion, but other than that this song is amazing.
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| last |
| I LOVE Last, there are so many layers of vocals and instruments (very typical for nine inch nails) but here I feel like it really makes this song. The loud and catchy guitar riff breaks through the layers perfectly. The chorus is composed very well, despite it's lyrics:
Come, come, gotta let me inside of you Come, come, come on you've gotta fix me up Come, come, gotta let me inside of you" Erm. Sure. But the layered whispering rather than screaming like usual in the chorus is strangely impactful, it makes Last stand out against the other songs in this EP - this effect is important, but challenging to achieve, as they are all of the same overdriven guitar and screaming formula. The lyrics, other than the chorus, are seething and resentful - in some places even self-pitying. TBH these lyrics could be as edgy as a passage from My Immortal and I'd still love this song simply because of the instrumentation and the way they're screamed.
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| help me i am in h*ll |
| Sorry for censoring H*ll I promise I'm not cringe, neocities censors all curse words with ***** so this is my workaround. ANOTHER INSTRUMENTAL AND ITS SO GOOD. I have been unable to find a song like Help Me I Am In H*ll but I really really need to because this instrumental track blows my mind every time I listen to it. The overdriven guitar has been changed to a cleaner, actually understandable tone and is layered with what sounds like another guitar (sorry I can't tell) and it sounds amazing. As the song slowly builds to its climax a sound mimicking a heartbeat coupled with soft breathing fades in. I don't actually know how to describe the atmosphere, the best way I can think of is desperation - this instrumental literally sounds like it's saying "help me i am in h*ll" and it is so amazing to be that Trent Reznor captured this overall feeling in such a minimalistic fashion. The most I can recommend is that you listen to the song yourself. If you don't like it I will be really embarrassed.
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| happiness in slavery |
Okay this song took a while to grow on me but now I really like it. The mocking tone of voice between the screaming in the verses is a very nice touch, I love the contrast it brings as it characterises the "slave's" rage and their captor's arrogance, which contextually represents Trent Reznor and his record label at the time, TVT Records. Initially I think it was the chorus that I wasn't very fond of, but now I really like it. My first time around listening to this track I was much more close-minded in terms of what music I liked, so I guess it's just an evolution in my tastes that changed my opinion. Now I think that the funky bassline in the chorus mixed with the vocals creates a really nice sound that breaks up the relentless anger. Overall this is another really good song.
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| gave up |
| I love the prechorus and chorus of Gave Up. I think this is a very powerful and angry song. I just really don't like the voice effect on the first verse specifically. I think that in that section it sounds like Trent's voice is wavering like he needs to clear his throat or something which just puts me off and makes me wanna skip the song. Other than that small hurdle this song is still really good. I love the bridge and the instrumentation, and as I already said I LOVE the chorus. Something about this song just doesn't hit as hard as the others I guess? It feels like it goes so fast compared to the other songs - on my first listen it felt like after I had just gotten a hold of the formatting of the song it was over. I guess that's not really a bad thing. It's still an awesome song, I just like others more.
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| physical (you're so) |
| Physical is my absolute FAVOURITE SONG on this CD, and probably one of my favourite Nine Inch Nails songs overall. It is an amazing cover of Adam and the Ants' Physical, as well as a secret track that plays after a series of blank tracks if you wait for long enough after Gave Up. Starting with "Eat your heart out Steve," a direct dig at Steve Gottleib, this song is set up for a bold and crass version of the original song. The screaming throughout this song is perfect and the suggestive delivery makes the song. This kind of a sexual song as opposed to screaming out of anger is a very good addition to the EP, effectively breaking up the theme.
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| suck |
| Suck is the final song on the Broken EP, and I think it's an amazing one to end on. I love the loud bass and the rhythmic delivery of the verses. The chorus is catchy and loud. There is honestly nothing I can think of that I don't like about this song, the whole piece is amazing. Sorry for the nin glazing. I just love this EP.
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| overall ep rating |
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| Broken is one of those EPs that I feel should've been an album. There are no skips, all of the songs are amazing and well put together. I love how confidently the theme of anger and revenge is expressed throughout each piece, and how natural it appears. I have never stopped listening to the songs from Broken, and I don't think I ever will. Despite there being some choices that put me off, there are too many good songs and instrumentals in this collection for me to discredit it. This is by far one of my favourite Nine Inch Nails Halos.
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