With Teeth by Nine Inch Nails

With Teeth, Nine Inch Nails' fourth album, came out in 2005 on Nothing Records and Interscope, stylized as [WITH_TEETH], and it's Trent Reznor stripping his sound down to the bone and baring his fangs. He produced it with his long-time collaborator Alan Moulder, with future band member Atticus Ross also on board and Dave Grohl chipping in, and the result is lean and punchy: drums up front, synths snarling, songs that go straight for the jugular.

The writing turns inward, shaped by Reznor's addiction to alcohol and drugs and his sobriety that followed. "The Hand That Feeds" is a stomping, danceable rocker with a chorus built for fists in the air. "Only" is twitchy electro-funk, all taut beats and half-spoken menace, before it explodes. "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" slows to a numb, grinding plod, and it came with its own remix EP.

Critics liked it, if not quite as much as the classics: some cheered its aggression, others found it bland and short on new ideas. It still sold: it became the band's second album to reach number one in the US, went gold with the RIAA and BPI and platinum in Canada, and Reznor took it on the road with the Live: With Teeth tour.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.