[WITH_TEETH]: 10th Anniversary Appreciation thread

[Prettybrokenspiral]

With Teeth was released to the world 10 years ago today. Honor its memory with individual praise, reviews, complaints, testimonials, etc. as we celebrate a decade with this pivotal and important oeuvre from our Lord the savior, Trent Reznor.

Remember the build-up to this? That burning hot summer of 2004 as we watched him piece it together via a shitty, grainy webcam in the Nothing studios? How an album originally called Bleedthrough containing "12 good punches to the face" became [WITH_TEETH], "a collection of songs that are friends with each, but don't need to rely on each other to make sense"?

This album was released in the middle of what was probably the darkest period of time in my life. A near-two year journey from the bottom back to some kind of salvation/redemption that this album ended up soundtracking. I remember it leaking in the middle of April and trying in vain to not download it, burn it to CD and listen to it that day. I took it home, waited until everyone else in the house was asleep and I was alone at the computer in a silent house and playing it for the first time.

I remember not believing how much I loved All the Love In the World from the first time I heard it, and still to this day. How songs like You Know What You Are, Only, The Line Begins to Blur and Getting Smaller gave understanding to an adolescent anger I couldn't get my head around but was dealing with every day. Or the way I cried, after years of not believing I was able to cry anymore, when I heard Right Where It Belongs at the end of the record.

I love this fucking album. It has a timelessness to it few, if any, of his other albums can claim. TDS and The Fragile and Year Zero are the monster concept albums, but WT is its own animal. The emotion in this album is virtually tangible; how it sounds so simplistic and streamlined, but reveals itself to be intricate and layered with repeated listens. The raw, ugly emotion of "Love Is Not Enough" and "The Collector"; the beautiful centerpiece of the much-maligned title track, when Trent is whimpering "I can not go through this again..." as that beautiful piano/keyboard instrumental soothes you into lowering your defenses for a moment, before the whole thing explodes violently once more.

This is not my favorite album he's done, but I always get excited to hear the entire thing whenever I''m in the mood to hear it, which is very often. My only complaint with the album is that I wish he would have included "Non-Entity" in place of "Sunspots". I'm always amazed to hear how many people claim Sunspots as one of their favorite NIN songs. To me, it sounds like a good b-side that doesn't quite fit into the context of WT as a whole, the way Non-Entity does.

In essence, I can't believe it's been 10 years since this album was finally released and quite literally saved my life when I needed it saved most. I bitched endlessly, here and offline, for years about the hold-up between The Fragile and WT. But once I heard this, all was forgiven. Even to this day, this album resonates and guides me through trialsome periods, just like his other albums. This one holds a special place in my heart though. It was like a match lighting in a dark, dark tunnel to illuminate a friendly face I didn't recognize at first, but ended up leading me back towards the light.

I own like six different versions of this album, in various formats. All money well spent.

Thank you, Trent, for making such awesome music and sharing with the world this most excellent of albums!