NIN Review series part 2: Broken, Fixed, and The Broken Movie

AngryByrd After 1989's Pretty Hate Machine, NIN finally made their major-label debut with 1992's Broken EP. Due to PHM's success, many probably expected Trent Reznor to make another sexual, synth-heavy album. Instead though, Reznor secretly recorded a much darker, heavier, and more mystical album. This album was much more than just a six-song EP, as it was accompanied by a remix EP known as Fixed, and an unreleased film known only as The Broken Movie. I will go over all of these in this review, but the original EP is the main focus. And now, I present to you, AngryByrd's review of Nine Inch Nails' sophomore effort.

The Broken EP itself is much heavier than Pretty Hate Machine. This album focuses a lot more on guitar riffs and screaming, making it much more agressive. My only real complaint with this album is that it has only four full songs. Pinion and Help Me I Am In Hell are really not needed. On some versions of the album, there are two covers at the end, but still, it's a little bit short. With how short it is though, there is still a lot of variety. Wish is fast and pretty heavy, Last is slower and really heavy, Happiness In Slavery is very danceable, and Gave Up is another fast song similar to Wish. I still kind of wish that there was a slower song on this album, but it's still good as is. My favorite song on this album is of course, Wish. My least favorite is Gave Up, because it tries to be Wish, but it's just not as good.

Later in 1992, a remix EP of Broken called Fixed cams out. This EP is pretty well done except for two things. While Broken was a little too short, Fixed was a little too long. It's not that having a 9 minute remix of Wish and two 5 minute remixes of Happiness in Slavery is bad, but it can be a little bit much sometimes. When you're in the right mood though, this album is magical. My other problem with Fixed is the remix of Gave Up. It's not terrible, but after about the first minute, I just got tired of it. My favorite song on here is again, Wish, and my least favorite is, again, Gave Up. So is this album as good as Broken? I would say no, but it's still worth listening to.

The Broken Movie was never really released fully. The reason why is because Trent Renor feared that the intense gore in the movie would overshadow the music. After seeing some scenes from the movie, I can understand not wanting to release it. The gore and sexual violence is really intense, so if you can't stomach violence very well, you might want to avoid this movie. If you've seen the video for Happiness In Slavery, then let me say, the movie gets worse than that! Some may dislike this movie because of all this, but I think it makes sense. It's violent, agressive, it works really well. It's a screwed up film to accompany a screwed up musical work.

So what score does all of this get? First, let's go over everything's individual score.

Broken: 8/10
Fixed: 7/10
The Broken Movie: 8/10

After finding an average I can declare that the entirety of Broken gets an 8/10. Very good and very interesting album that has a lot of mysticality. I would definitely recommend listening to both of these albums and watching what you can find of the movie.

Stay tuned for part 3!

Comments

The Broken Movie looks like something that could be turned into a Creepypasta. - visitor (5/24/2015)

I've got it! It needs to be something like "I found a broken movie tape and after I repaired it and watched it, it was this movie called the broken movie." It'll be hit! - AngryByrd (5/24/2015)

What do you think of the industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle? - visitor (5/24/2015)

Never hear of them. I will check them out though. - AngryByrd (5/24/2015)

The reason I bring them up is because one of the members was the director of The Broken Movie. Just saying. - visitor (5/25/2015)

He also did the music video to March of the Pigs. - visitor (8/14/2015)

Wasn't he also a member of Hipgnosis and Coil? - visitor (8/14/2015)

Here's another interesting fact about him. He was also part of Hipgnosis. An art design group known for creating cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands, most notably Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, even Paul McCartney and Wings. - visitor (8/19/2015)