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My god how this just attached itself to me. It started with NFAMWAP, hearing it on RVRB. And then I check the album out and Colossus is fucking Swans level bombast. The more I learned about them the more my obsession grew. These are some beautiful men doing the Lord’s work out there. I fell in love with both Dev and Jon. Joe is the definition of an ally. Even with June (which breaks the flow of the album, should have been a b-side) it’s still 5 stars. I think this is one of the most important albums of the last 25 years.

I first went to rate this and was thinking 2 stars. It made next to no impression to me on release. At Lollapalooza 2007 I skipped them (for Kanye West - I’ll defend that choice). But wait. This has some of the most beautiful tracks since The Fragile. I have a Las Vegas playlist of NIN tracks to listen to during sunset (I know, both niche AND pretentious) and it heavily features Lights in the Sky through The Four of Us Are Dying. Idk, maybe you had to be there, but that playlist just puts me in a mood.

Is this the peak? I think so. First came the live leaks of the new songs. I’m pretty sure the show I saw was before it came out and I got to hear 15 Step, maybe House of Cards? The sheer excitement around this release breaking the internet. I think I paid zero - it wasn’t intentional, I just had some weird glitch trying to pay. It was no Kid A, but damn fine. It may have aged better. Reckoner? That drop in the last moments? I just melt. Can I tell you a secret? I have a playlist for my funeral, and I pretty much limit it to one song per artist. But I have both All I Need and Videotape on i

This showed up on my radar due to the Einsturzende Neubauten cover. I’d heard the name of the band but never checked them out. As it turns out, that cover is the high point. The rest bubbles around annoying and not noteworthy.

What a vibe. What an era. I was working at Newbury Comics when this was released. It would get played daily. How lucky was I to have a crew that fell in love with this with me.