NINE INCH NAILS AT 30 FIXED BY ALEX DAVIS

When I developed the idea of the Nine Inch Nails at 30 project, there were a huge number of albums that I was really looking forward to getting stuck into. And I have to say, in all honesty, Fixed was not high among them. While the precursor piece, Broken, remains an absolute favourite, the remix album that accompanies it doesn't rank highly or live long in the memory among a catalogue of brilliant releases from the band. Just think – next on the slate was The Downward Spiral, an album that truly deserves its reputation as a seminal piece of industrial/alternative music.

Fixed was released relatively quickly after Broken, emerging a mere three months later, which at the least suggests that it was something that was in the works the whole time and was certainly not any kind of cash-in after the success of Broken – in fact that concept wouldn't find the Trent Reznor MO in the least. Despite never hitting the chart heights of its predecessor, Fixed was certified Platinum in the UK (selling over 300,000 copies) and reached a high position of 6 in the Canadian charts. It would  also be the first in a series of remix albums from Nine Inch Nails, which has since offered up Further Down The Spiral, Things Falling Apart, Year Zero Remixed and a slightly more obscure Remix 2014 album that followed on from Hesitation Marks.

While Fixed certainly picks up much stylistically from Broken, I feel that in adding more dance and electronic elements the album somehow loses the raw, furious edge that made it so memorable. It's fair to say that numerous of the tracks have their moments, but many don't really stay with me as song in full. If I had to pin down a favourite I feel like the extended version of Wish – the second track on the album – is a very good one. The opener, Gave Up, has a couple of very engaging sections but overall doesn't feel as though it gels together as a track. On the rest of the album there are two remixes of Happiness in Slavery – which has never been my favourite from the Broken record at the best of times – as well as the decent Throw it Away, which blends elements of Suck and Last in a solid if not spectacular combination. I would imagine that in a different context to sitting at home – say in an industrial/metal club – many of these tracks would go down a treat and have the potential to fill a dancefloor. But as a top to bottom listen I would tend to say this is the least inspired NIN album – not to say that it's bad, but when you set the bar high your work is always going to be compared to your better and your best output. While some fans have shown something of a dislike towards the more recent EPs, each of those I feel has substantially more highpoints than this one.

While Broken retains an elements of freshness due to the fury that seems to drip from every note, Fixed does feel firmly like a product of the nineties. Maybe the lustre has just fallen off this one slightly over time –  I remember the remix album still being a thing of excitement when they were first released. It could even be that maybe the content of Broken is less suitable for remixing, with less different and varied elements to pull upon that NIN's next two albums, which served to propel them from stardom to megastardom. If there are more exciting elements of the music to pull at in the first place, you're liable to have a better remix album all around.

If you're new to NIN, I certainly wouldn't suggest starting here – as I say, it's still a good 6.5 or 7 out of 10, but that makes it for me the weakest of thirty years of output. If you want an intro to the band, there's plenty that's worth a 9 or even a 10 out of 10 that I'd suggest going with first. Ultimately Fixed might be rather more an album for the aficionado than the casual fan.

Next time around, it'll be time for The Downward Spiral...
​