Since breaking away from his record label, Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor has been a running riot, recording what he pleased.

Early in 2008, he released Ghosts I-IV, a 36-track instrumental album online for download, for whatever price a purchaser wanted for it. Although there were varied pieces to the collection, including a booklet of art for the album costing $300, "Ghosts" sold very well, starting off with over 800,000 downloads over the NIN website, nin.com.

Now, Mr. Reznor has struck again, and released the next Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip. And this time vocals are included. And this time, the album is completely free. "this one's on me," Reznor declares on his blog on nin.com. 

Kicking off with the track "999,999" it almost seems as if The Slip picks up from where Ghosts I-IV left off, with a softer, noise-ish track. However, as soon as the song finishes, we are strapped in for a wild ride that is "1,000,000" the next track on the album. Trent's voice hasn't change over the decade since The Fragile; he still sounds young and angry.

Using heavily distorted synthesizers and guitars to launch his aural assault, Trent once again delivers a musical bomb that will satisfy his fans. However, like most of Nine Inch Nails' work (With Teeth excluded), this album is not for those who don't quite get the noisy industrial sound that NIN is known for playing. One such track is the one instrumental song "Corona Radiata" which meanders on carelessly using a soft piano in the background and a droning effect that takes up most of the song, save for a drum beat that kicks in quietly midway. Newer fans to NIN might find the single "Discipline" a bouncy, dance groove that is almost irresistable. Unfortunately for the newer fans, this is the only track they might find accessible; Reznor was not concerned with the mainstream-appeasement that the album With Teeth was filled with.

However, the best moments of entire album rally around Josh Freese's drumming, which is above average. The very beats that punch through the speakers will have any listener trapped in the world of Nine Inch Nails; a very claustrophobic experience indeed.

Once again, Trent and Co. have delivered on the goods that will make most NIN fans content until the next release. Newer fans may find this hard to swallow, but my advice as a devoted NIN fan is very simple; turn up the speakers, find yourself a drink, make sure that you have nothing important on your schedule for the next forty-five minutes, and relax. Just listen to the music as it crawls (or in some cases, explodes) out of the speakers, and enjoy another day in the mind of Trent Reznor.