I purposely waited until I had listened to the album several times before I posted in here. That said: I think it's great. It treads the line of moving forward and trying not to just rehash old ideas while still maintaining the essential elements of NIN very well.
You can hear aspects of all his previous albums in this one (e.g., "I Would For You" reminds me of "The Fragile", while "Copy of A" could easily have been on "Pretty Hate Machine", not to mention the "With Teeth" and "Year Zero" electronic vibes throughout), but it feels like he has put those aspects into a new framework and used them to explore new themes.
There really aren't any songs on the album I don't like - the "worst" song on there is simply "okay" IMO, and that's "Running". It's just not my thing really, but I can appreciate it for what it is. I think the rest of it, after repeated listens, ranges from "great" to "simply outstanding". My favourite track is probably "Various Methods of Escape" or "Find My Way"
You can hear aspects of all his previous albums in this one (e.g., "I Would For You" reminds me of "The Fragile", while "Copy of A" could easily have been on "Pretty Hate Machine", not to mention the "With Teeth" and "Year Zero" electronic vibes throughout), but it feels like he has put those aspects into a new framework and used them to explore new themes.
There really aren't any songs on the album I don't like - the "worst" song on there is simply "okay" IMO, and that's "Running". It's just not my thing really, but I can appreciate it for what it is. I think the rest of it, after repeated listens, ranges from "great" to "simply outstanding". My favourite track is probably "Various Methods of Escape" or "Find My Way"