Exploring The Nine Inch Nails EP Trilogy

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 21^st 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:

Not the Actual Events (2016 – 21:11) *5 songs

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.

Add Violence (2017 – 27:15) *5 songs

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.

Bad Witch (2018 – 30:15) *6 songs

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.