Not the Actual Events (2016)
Add Violence
(2017)
Bad Witch
(2018)
After officially ending the project in 2009 and then
resurrecting it in 2013, Nine Inch Nails mastermind, Trent Reznor, has thus far
only released one full-length LP (2013’s Hesitation
Marks). A few years ago, however,
Reznor and his musical partner, Atticus Ross, conceived a strange, creative,
and interesting idea for releasing new songs.
Rather than a bloated 80 minute album, Nine Inch Nails would release new
batches of songs in 30 minute increments over the span of about a
year-and-a-half or so. Without specifically explaining the details, it was
unclear whether or not the three releases would connect to form a new album or
if the pieces would exist separately on their own. While NIN has done some
light touring in support of the first two EPs, with more American shows coming
this fall, some of the new songs have been featured during the live shows while
others have not, similar to set lists for tours by most major label artists.
Reznor has mentioned in recent interviews that the upcoming shows will include
more of the newer material, especially tracks from this summer’s most-recent
release, Bad Witch. So, everything else aside, how does this new
material stack up, and what makes it interesting or significant?
Whether you choose to look at the three EPs as individual
statements or as three movements within a suite or song cycle, Nine Inch Nails’
newest music continues in the rich tradition of their large catalog while also
exploring new sounds and tones as well as showing respect to some of their
inspirations. Aside from the music itself, the material was presented in a
unique and interesting way, with 6-12 months between each release, that both
helped generate attention for each EP and engaged fans who wondered what the
next set of songs might sound like and if or how they may connect to each
other. Originally, Reznor wanted to issue
each batch of songs on vinyl and as an official download only, but after
numerous fan requests to issue official CDs as well, that “dead format” was
also included. (More to come on formats in future editorials)
The digital downloads of Not the Actual Events and Add
Violence also included a mysterious “physical component”, where the
official download of Bad Witch does
not. The vinyl and CD editions of each release are similar in design and
content, but the physical components included additional art and somewhat
interactive materials to accompany one set of the songs or the other. For instance, those who downloaded the first
EP later received a letter in the mail in a black envelope with a cryptic
warning sticker sealing the back alerting recipients that “opening… (waves) any
claim against any damages or harm you may incur” and that there would be messy
contents without anything more specific. Once opened, there were several
postcard-sized pieces of artwork, a “sloppy” band photo, and bits of lyrics,
some of them printed on transparent plastic. These items, however, were bedded
in a layer of black soot, possibly charcoal or some sort of chalk, and the
danger of creating a ridiculous mess runs high for those who did not open with
care.
Another interesting element about these releases is how they are
categorized. Are they EPs, LPs, or a
mixture? While there is no specific industry standard to answer this question,
technically, the general feeling is that a release of this nature that is
shorter than 30 minutes is only an EP (“extended play”) vs. a release longer
than 30 minutes, which qualifies it as an LP (“long play”). NIN has blurred
this line before, most notably with 1992’s Broken,
which is normally listed as an EP due to its length even though it contained
entirely new material and is essentially the second NIN “album”. In the case of the latest releases, Not The Actual Events runs just over 20
minutes, and Add Violence is about 27
minutes, 2018’s Bad Witch runs for
30:15, just barely over that half-hour boundary line between EPs and LPs, so
many places are listing and referring to Bad
Witch as NIN’s latest and shortest album.
Prior to its release, Reznor received some press coverage after engaging
with a critical fan online about the technical specifics of it being and EP or
album, and some speculate a few extra seconds may have been added just to get
it over the half hour mark. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Reznor explained that once he saw how singles, EPs,
and other miscellaneous works were placed below an artist’s albums on Spotify
and other streaming services, he thought it was important for the new material
to get the proper interest and attention from potential listeners rather than having
streaming subscribers not realize the new release was available or that it even
exists.
All this aside, do these new songs connect to form one
large piece, or should they be viewed individually and separate from one
another? Running all three releases together, end-to-end, would take just under
79 minutes, which makes these songs together about the length of a “long CD”,
near or shy of 80 minutes (the maximum amount of music that can fit on a single
CD), and about the length of most Tool or Eminem albums by comparison. This became a standard length for albums
released in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, but over the last 12 years or so, as
album sales have diminished, lengths of new albums have also dropped, many now
clocking in at about 35 to 40 minutes.
Of course, with streaming revenues partly determined by the amount of
individual songs a subscriber can stream from an artist or a specific album,
that trend is changing again, especially in modern hip hop, but that’s a
different discussion.
It’s fair to say that while each EP has its own tone, the
songs do connect from one release to the next, sometimes via lyrical or musical
references that call back to songs earlier in the cycle. While the lyrics are
not specific enough to construct a clear narrative with a plot and characters,
there is a loose concept contained in the songs and reflected in the order of presentation
and release. Mainly, the songs seem to be a multi-stage reflection on feelings
of frustration and alienation with both a current and future life and society,
sometimes commenting on things from a personal, inward-looking perspective (Not the Actual Events), an
outward-looking view of social structure and government within the context of
modern life (Add Violence), and an
expanded viewpoint that extends those outward-looking reflections into and
beyond the unknown, including religion and time and space themselves (Bad Witch) though in an open-ended,
existential way. Many of these themes have been part of Reznor’s many songs
over the years, and some of the political commentary in these newest songs
recalls similar moments on 2005’s With
Teeth and 2007’s Year Zero, both
of which commented negatively on the George W. Bush administration and its
impact on the country and the world. While none of the new tracks seem to focus
on the Donald Trump regime with the same kind of specificity, it’s clear that
the rough concept contained within them exists in a dark, dystopian near-future
that could certainly be the result of damage that has been done and is being
done in the early 21st century.
*All three EPs can be streamed on Spotify and many other services, or you can
listen to each of them on YouTube by clicking the links below.
BREAKING IT DOWN:
Each of the three movements in the EP trilogy varies in
tone, and this portion’s dark, gothy tunes most-closely recall the classic NIN
sound and style fans have known and loved for nearly 30 years. The short but
abrasive opener, “Branches/Bones” segues well into “Dear World,” and within 10
minutes, this EP is half over. The pacing can take some getting used to, especially
if you are listening to the EPs one at a time. None of these 5 introspective
songs is radio friendly, but Dave Grohl lends his superior drumming skills to “The
Idea of You”, the most up-tempo song here, while Jane’s Addiction guitarist,
Dave Navarro, lends guitar to the closer, “Burning Bright”, and Reznor’s wife,
vocalist Mariqueen Maandig, sings backing vocals on the plodding “She’s Gone
Away”. This EP is a solid set that fits well together but feels like it ends
just as you are getting into it. It works well as a first act or first movement
of the bigger piece which builds on these songs and changes in sound and style
on the next release.
This collection of 5 songs, the second movement of the
trilogy, is very synth-heavy and even downright pop-ish in places (most namely
on the opener and single, “Less Than”), while other songs step things down into
quieter reflections based around hopeless meandering on the piano. While the
signature NIN-crunch of guitars and industrial beats is still featured
throughout, these songs see the narrator looking outward and questioning or blaming
others for various frustrations and disappointments, perhaps within the context
of romantic or family relationships, rather than the inward self-blame
contained in the songs in the first movement. The mid-tempo, “The Lovers” moves
by without making much of a lasting impression but blends well into “This Isn’t
the Place”, which is even slower and has few lyrics. “Not Anymore” is the
rocker here and is distorted throughout, though its verses are still mixed
quietly compared to the overdrive of the chorus, which makes those some of the
strongest moments of the EP. The closer, “The Background World”, would fit
right onto side two of Year Zero or
even The Slip, and it returns to the
mid-tempo beats of the second and third tracks. The noteworthy thing about the
last song in this movement is how it changes from a traditional song into an
arty sound loop at about the 4 minute mark. The track, however, is nearly 12
minutes long, meaning the final 8 minutes of the EP is a loop of the same 10-second
segment of music, but each time it repeats, it distorts a bit more. While this
would normally not present much of an issue to the listener who could easily
fade the song out early or turn it off once the loop begins, if you are
listening to all three EPs as one piece, this section of music sort of takes
you out of it due to its severe repetition. Then again, perhaps it serves as a
built-in intermission or sort of a palate-cleanser before the conclusion found on
the next release.
The third and final movement in the series contains moody
blends of different types of dark music, some traditional within the
industrial/metal/alternative world, and others more atmospheric, experimental,
and even jazz-based. Bad Witch has
lots of space and breathing room compared to the first two movements. This sort
of adventurous song-writing and studio experimentation leads to material that
sounds the least-like what the NIN audience might expect, which is what makes
it the most-interesting of the three EP releases. The opener, “Shit Mirror”, is
the most traditionally NIN in style and rocks over distorted bass, guitar, and
synth. “Ahead of Ourselves” features a
hypnotic beat loop under affected, multi-layered vocals and a dynamic
loud/quiet/loud production on the choruses. “Play the Goddamned Part”, an
instrumental that appears around the mid-way point of this movement, introduces
the first elements of musical experimentation, including Reznor’s layered
saxophone riffing, a talent just now appearing on an official NIN release for
the first time (after nearly 30 years of recordings). This track unsurprisingly
recalls the vibe of David Lynch’s Twin
Peaks and his many other haunted works, and Reznor appeared in performance
on that show’s most recent season. The EP’s second half really takes off as the
theme finally concludes by building on gazing outward but now beyond the
literal reality or possibly into the future. The single, “God Break Down the
Door” instantly recalls the legendary vocal delivery of David Bowie, one of
Reznor’s biggest musical inspirations, and a close, personal friend, who almost
seems to appear as a guest via some sort of vocal possession over Reznor. This
track, or the final track on this EP, would not be out of place on Bowie’s
final album, 2016’s Blackstar. As the
song builds, it eventually develops into a more-traditional NIN song, but we
take a hard left turn back into a spacey and progressively-noisy instrumental
called, “I’m Not from This World”, possibly continuing references to the
existence of and communication with alien life explored on parts of Year Zero and The Slip. Where the redundant looping at the end of “The Background
World” takes away from the ending of Add
Violence, listeners can easily get lost in the changes and textures of “I’m
Not from This World” to the point where it’s change over into the final track
of the whole trilogy, “Over and Out”, is a bit of an unexpected startle. Even
then, shortly after it begins, the closing number grows, changes, and mutates
over the course of the closing 8 minutes of the EP, this time recalling Bowie
even more noticeably, or even Scott Weiland’s David Bowie-esque delivery, which
sounds both surprising and impressive coming from Reznor, who has certainly
developed his own signature vocal style and sound over many years. One of the
concluding thoughts delivered in the lyrics says, “I’ve always been 10 years
ahead of you”, seemingly breaking the concept wall to speak directly to fans or
listeners in the first person, and allowing longtime NIN followers to consider
their releases of 10 (or 20 or 30) years ago and to compare and contrast them
with both this new material and with the events of recent history and of the
listener’s own life experiences. It’s almost as though this dense,
multi-layered EP trilogy looks backward while simultaneously looking forward,
referencing and sometimes regretting events and experiences of the past while
making dire predictions about a possible future.
While these songs and EPs can certainly be enjoyed and
appreciated individually, it’s clear that Reznor and Ross put a great deal of
time and effort into constructing and presenting the material as they did, all
of which is a big reward to listeners who have the attention span and the time
to devote to getting lost in an arc or cycle of tones and songs. If you don’t already know and like Nine Inch
Nails, this EP series is probably not the best place to start, but for even the
lightly-initiated or curious listener, there’s bound to be at least a few songs
for almost anyone among these 16 tracks, and most NIN fans will feel
comfortable at first and open-minded enough to hang on tight and enjoy the ride
as the experimental elements are gradually worked into the progression. While
it may not be NIN’s best work as a whole, it is probably the best NIN output
within the last 10 years, and it’s interesting to hear what the project sounds
like, and feels like, after 30 years; the current version is just about as
bleak as ever. Maybe modern life has
finally caught up with NIN.
