10 Darkest Rock Albums Of The 90s

By the time that Nine Inch Nails fans reached the Downward Spiral, we knew we were going to be in for something a bit on the dark side. Since the Broken EP pretty much put all of our collective nerves through a woodchipper and walked away with a Grammy, Trent Reznor was just starting to build the persona of what would become Mr. Self Destruct. Then again, sometimes a persona can start to blur once you hear the music on the record.

While still keeping in the vein of Pretty Hate Machine, the songs on this record are some of the most disturbed pieces of sound recording of the entire '90s, with Trent sounding like he's on the verge of a mental breakdown on every single track. It also manages to work like nothing else on the radio, with Closer becoming too good a single not to release despite its carnal hook in the chorus.

From back to front, this whole thing feels like a man actively trying to nullify his life, until we reach the song Hurt at the end where he tries to pinpoint where everything went wrong. Though Trent managed to find his way to the other side of sanity in the years since, this feels like watching a man slowly deteriorate and surrendering to the worst sides of himself. They may have called it the Downward Spiral, but no one told you that the spiral never truly ends on this record.