[joethelion]

Hmm... well definitely not "ALL" of NIN's stuff is Depeche Mode-y but... it's safe to say that most of Trent's albums have at least one or two DM sounding tracks on them.

and yea - Trent is a closet New Wave guy for sure, he's done stuff with David Bowie, Adrian Belew, Gary Numan, and.... oh what's that guy's name... I think it was Adam from "Adam & the Ants"

As far as the actual album, "The Downward Spiral"... I'd say "Closer" is kinda unique amongst the other songs on the album. Overall - it's much harder than that single

(also the "Broken" EP sounds nothing like DM)

but - "The Fragile" "Year Zero" and "The Slip" all have many songs that I'd say are in the same vein as Depeche Mode's work (especially SOFaD, Ultra, Exciter, and to a lesser extent, SotU)

(edit)
So basically -

• "Pretty Hate Machine" - pretty Depeche Mode-y, but I'm personally not a huge fan of the album
• "Broken EP" / "Fixed EP" - not DM at all, more industrial than anything
• "The Downward Spiral" - some DM influence, for sure - but mostly "industrial" that's easier to consume than most "industrial music" - and btw the track "A Warm Place" is Trent's version of Bowie's "Crystal Japan" ... also Trent spent most of the time recording this album while listening to Bowie's "Low"
• "The Fragile" - long album, great stuff - but maybe not the best introduction to NIN
• "With Teeth" - It kinda felt like an EP to me.... I never really listened to it much, but definitely a song or two that are dark-ish pop like "Only"
• Year Zero - probably your best bet for "sounding like Depeche Mode"
• "The Slip" - basically a more experimental or agressive version of Year Zero/ With Teeth

(edit 2)

if you want just like a good overview/ "Best of" -> you should get NIN's live album, "All that Could Have Been"
there's also a two-disc instrumental album called "Ghosts" but none of them really remind me of DM's instrumentals