And All That Could Have Been

Hard as it may be to believe now, but the most interesting thing about Marilyn Manson when he first appeared was that he was Trent Reznor’s protégéé. Since then, Manson has taken Reznor’s industrial metal template (with a little added shock value) to commercial extremes, while Nine Inch Nails have continued to follow their own more modest path.

In lieu of any sort of ‘best of’ collection, the live And All That Could Have Been is a fine resume of ten years spent on the edges of the mainstream. While no real indication of the spectacular visual element to their performance (confined to the accompanying DVD), the album is still a fair testament to a unique live experience. As with their recorded work, the emphasis is on the extreme – both in terms of music and emotion – with the odd moments of melody and humanity breaking through. How much of it is actually live could be debated, but there can be no doubting that Nine Inch Nails in full flight is an impressive prospect – especially on ‘Wish’ and ‘Head Like A Hole’.

All of which makes the limited edition second CD of piano-led versions of Reznor’s nightmare vision the more intriguing, even if it begins to pall after a while, leaving the listener dying for a touch of white noise.