A harsh and abrasive antidote to Pretty Hate Machine

To me, Broken feels like the true birth of Nine Inch Nails. While Pretty Hate Machine showed Trent Reznor juxtaposing quiet verses with loud choruses, as per The Pixies and Nirvana, its subdued synthpop was at odds with the live band's industrial rock. This EP takes his usual assortment of hooks, and finally buries them under what would become his trademark sound.

Broken introduces the remaining pieces of his style, such as beautifully grotesque sound collages, well sequenced samples of rock instruments, atmospheric crescendos, and sudden endings. It also features what would later become one of cohort Marilyn Manson's hallmarks: playing a loud snare drum on all the downbeats of a chorus. Broken sees Reznor's unique style fully formed, sounding like the first true Nine Inch Nails record.

Reznor understandably overcompensates for the restrained nature of Pretty Hate Machine — in places, Broken is only slightly more rhythmic and melodic than bursts of noise. It also sounds a little rough around the edges, as he enthusiastically embraces his new style before he's had a chance to get comfortable writing in it.

If you want to hear only the very best of Nine Inch Nails's releases, you should probably skip this EP and go straight to Reznor's magnum opus, The Downward Spiral. If, however, you want to hear the raw template of the aesthetic that would later be put to outstanding use, then Broken offers a first glimpse into the intense sound of the angry, the desperate, trapped in Hell.