The asks dropped off pretty quick, so I put on
Niᴎ's The Downward Spiral, since I have some incredibly high-quality mp3s of the Definitive edition. In the ~1.5 listens I did on my walk, 2 major things struck me on this time around:
-
This is my first listen all the way through since getting into programming drums and paying attention to percussion more as a result, and also my first pass through since getting back on ADHD meds, and goddamn what a masterpiece this album is. There's so many little details that jump out at me, the levels and layers of construction that went into it, the use of sounds I doubt anyone really hears on the first pass but jump out with repeated exposure, and the raw anger, pain, fear, and despair that wrack it from top to bottom and then crash into the emptiness in those final moments of "Hurt". It is a harrowing listen, never quite rewarding but deeply cathartic, as the death drive turns inwards in the end and doesn't quite condone what happens, just treats it as the only way the story could close.
-
I am really not in a good headspace to be listening to it 😬