In May 2005, it had been well over half a decade since the last Nine Inch Nails’ record and there was a very real possibility that Trent Reznor might not have ever been able to recapture what had made his band one of the most exhilarating and ferocious rock bands of the 90s. After all, Nine Inch Nails’ previous album had suggested the band’s leader was diving off the deep end. Now regarded as a sprawling masterpiece, 1999’s The Fragile was also scattershot and unwieldy, a thrilling listen that was pretty much the sound of someone heading into the wilderness and not bothering to bring a map.
“It’s an accurate snapshot of my life at that time,” Reznor said of The Fragile in an interview with Metal Hammer in 2005. “I made the best record I could, with the tools available and, I was terrified, I was overcompensating. I’m proud of it. It was made in insane circumstances… I hope I never make a record like that again… I was the guy on the ledge, ready to jump. I had to get to a true bottom.”
