Diverting from the model presented by Ghosts I-IV released in March, that being listen to a sample for free – but pay if you’d like an expansive version of the set, The Slip was offered last week as a free-only release online; no upgraded versions of the release, no signed collector’s editions, no physical copies. In his attempt to question the recording industry’s historic business model Trent Reznor has set precedent by not only giving the consumer the option to listen to pay for the music, but more importantly, presenting the larger question of whether or not one can set a suitable price on art. Here are four reactions, four impressions, four takes on Nine Inch Nails’ The Slip.

The biggest criticism of Nine Inch Nails has always been that the sometimes-adolescent lyrics don’t quite match the gravity of the music, and while that’s mostly the case here, it’s not too large of a distraction. Reznor’s still mostly in Year Zero mode—lots of vague yet surprisingly effective talk about authority and rebellion. “1,000,000,” the album’s first proper song, brings to mind Year Zero’s “Survivalism,” with its brooding intensity and strong riffs, though it lacks the latter’s monstrous hook. The album’s highlight is probably “Lights in the Sky,” where Reznor sings, over nothing but a ghostly piano, a drearily beautiful love song. It’s telling that the album’s strongest point is exactly where Reznor strays furthest from his formula. While NIN’s post-apocalyptic industrial new wave goth-pop still sounds pretty great, it’s not quite as exciting as it was in 1994. The Slip, for better or worse, is more of the same. Since it’s free, though, it could be a great opportunity for people who like NIN in theory to actually dig into Reznor’s work. [Kyle "El Guante" Myhre]

I will be honest, Nine Inch Nails has never been my thing. While there are people I respect who are NIN fans, I have never been able to really stomach Reznor’s tortured lyricism; The Slip doesn’t seem to differ from previous NIN releases in that regard. While it smashes out some great industrial beats, brain-melting distortion, and even a few haunting melodies, the lyrics are the usual angsty, me-against-the-world tripe that seems to mostly appeal to kids who think the world is unfair because they got grounded for wearing black lipstick. Take the cheery gems of “Echoplex” for instance: “I don’t need anything at all, my voice just echoes off these walls, and I just slowly fade away, you will never ever get to me in here.” Ugh. I have no problem with melancholy songs, but at least attempt to make them original. What happened to the guy who wrote “Heresy”? Where’s the man who wanted to fuck us like an animal? In The Slip he seems noticeably absent. [Jon Behm]

Whereas one must turn off their phone, email and instant messenger services in addition to making sure their pet and/or child has been fed and appropriately sedated before even considering making it through Ghosts I-IV in a single sitting, Trent Reznor artistically departs from that vision with The Slip. In doing so however its ten tracks are scattered, often confronting one another with such distinct sounds; considering it an album to be listened to from start to end quickly becomes a distant thought. In pieces The Slip is phenomenal, touching on Year Zero with its “Survivalism” Jr. “1,000,000″ it also wields tracks such as the introductory “999,999″ and “Corona Radiata;” both clearly Ghosts-castaways. With the approach taken however, Reznor allows for unique nuances to not only see release, but become prominent. “Letting You” sounds like a personal response to the agro-industrialism of the Spawn soundtrack and the albums lead non-single “Discipline” flaunts what may (or may not be) vocal slips during the first verse. The Slip is a solid release, its pieces far stronger than the album as a whole, however releasing such a collection may possibly indicate that Reznor may eventually go one step further in his journey to slight the recording industry and forget about releasing songs in the form of an album altogether. Or maybe it is just scattered, either way it’s worth the price of admission. [Chris DeLine]

I really admire the fact that Trent Reznor put this album out for free, for his fans, saying – “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years, this one’s on me…” However, I’ve had no interest whatsoever in listening to this album. Frankly, I almost dreaded it. But I soldiered on through washing the dishes and cleaning my apartment and well, it wasn’t necessarily the chore I built it up to be. I fancied myself a Nine Inch Nails fan back in the day, in the Downward Spiral era, but promptly lost touch with everything else and as a whole, it’s not quite my style. Aloofness aside, I genuinely like a good amount of the tracks on here, for example, “1,000,000″ is a great track, although the image in my head it created was definitely a car commercial (in its defense: a really great car commercial). The Slip’s first single, “Discipline,” is another nicely produced song, with a powerful, driving beat and those signature NIN layers of sound. The album starts out with a minute and a half’s worth of atmospheric, electronic whooshing that makes me sleepily bored. However, the up-tempo tracks, as with “Echoplex” with its great, tinny guitar riff and New Order beats, make me very tolerant of this album. I ask myself: Is Trent Reznor still this full of angst? But the truth is, we all are – we’ll just never own up to that side of ourselves like he does. Or make as much money off of it. [Jen Paulson]

Nine Inch Nails “Echoplex” (mp3)

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Also: (New Nine Inch Nails “Ghosts I-IV”)