I’ll start by saying I’m a huge NIN fan, liked rage and a lot of Audioslave, and never really got into Jane’s Addiction. This free EP contains 2 tracks from NIN, JA, and Streetsweeper (tom morello’s new project), who are about to start an 09 tour together.
The Streetsweeper tracks sound like a mix of sub-rage riffs, with saul williams style vocals over the top. I think the rhythm section of rage added a lot to the band, and this lacks a bit in that department. I do prefer it to the other tom morello projects I’ve heard lately, but I probably wont listen to it that much. That being said, the intro riff in the “Clap for the killers” is really bizarre and I actually love it.
The first NIN track, “Not so pretty now” reminds me a little of Echoplex, and sounds like its most likely a b-side from The Slip sessions (and to me, all of The Slip sounded like B-sides from ghosts and with teeth). Its a pretty average NIN song overall I think. The second track “Non-entity” is a bit better, but pretty much sounds like an off-key version of “The line begins to blur”.
I’ve left the Janes Addiction tracks till last because I’m not that familiar with their sound, but I think both their tracks are actually my picks from the whole EP. I’m not a fan of the vocals, but the first track “Chip away” has a really punchy tribal drum rhythm driving it that kept me interested, and there’s some great guitar work in “Whores”.
On the whole, can’t complain for free, but I hope to get something more up to the quality of Fragile/Downward spiral era NIN in the future. Hopefully the break from touring will give him a bit more time to experiment.
