That title is a message for Trent Reznor. I'm okay with the idea that he will never see it. If he does, well, I have some explaining to do.
Dear Trent, I do like the new album. I had to get that out of the way before you started to worry that I had turned my back on you. The title is actually more about the fact that I actually forgot that the new Nine Inch Nails album had some out on the third. Worry not, oh person I have nothing but great respect for; you got my money before 5 o'clock on the fourth. I actually really like Hesitation Marks. I am a bit surprised by the change and the fact that I still like it, but there are several good reasons for that.
Well, my friend (I wish Trent and I were friends), the first reason is that I came in a bit late. It was mid 2003 and I was just about to wrap up my first year of high school. My good buddy Chris was talking to me about his favourite NIN albums and I had to sheepishly let him know that I had never heard of them. After I wiped the blood from my head, he proceeded to tell me about the albums and how The Fragile may just be the last thing you ever do. He lent me The Fragile and told me to look into The Downward Spiral if I liked what I heard. Well, I kind of fell in love with everything that I heard.
I remember doing some research and reading about how The Fragile split a good portion of the fan base; people either saw it as brilliant or too much of a departure. It was around the time that I found the Broken Ep that I started to see just how diverse your music could get. I think that because this is where I came in, I find it really easy to just accept that I'm looking at another side of Nine Inch Nails. I mean, within two years of me hearing my first tracks, With Teeth was released.
So, on that note, let's look at how that progression went (in pretentious genre specific terms):
1988-91; Everything surrounding Pretty Hate Machine. Very 80's industrial mixed with 80's pop.
1992-94; Broken & Fixed. Very hard and loud. Inspired from things closer to Ministry as opposed to Skinny Puppy. Took notes from The Pixies' "loud quiet loud quiet loud" formula.
1994-96; Downward Spiral and all those Ep's. Very dirty and grungy sounding. Adrien Belew added so much to the soundscapes and general feel. Much experimentation. Felt like there was more purpose behind every song that there probably was.
1997-98; Perfect Drug. Pretty cool song, but it was definitely different from what was done and what was soon to come.
1999-2005; The Fragile and & All That Could Have Been. The Fragile is one of my favourite albums of all time and followed by easily one of the best live DVD's of all time. The new sound used more soundscapes and noise instead of hooks. Seriously though, Just Like You Imagined? My good fuck that is some brilliant shit!
Because there was a dramatic decline in the space between albums, it seems like a lot of people just kind of clump the albums together. With Teeth is far more straight up electronica than the subsequent albums. Year Zero & The Slip are in the same universe conceptually, but The Slip definitely took a tonne of pages from Ghosts.
Well, Mr. Reznor, that brings us right up to the new album. I was actually very surprised to hear the direction you went in. I don't know how I feel about a drum machine album, if I'm being completely honest. Barring that, this album feels like you took the entire career you have had over the last 25 years and smashed it into 14 songs. I am currently on my third run through of the album and I am finding myself really torn over a few points.
Someone described this album to me as "NIN with less angst." I can't quite argue that, but there is something other than suicidal lyrics missing from this collection of new songs. The entire mix is very clean and very minimalistic. Yes, the soundscapes are still there. Yes, there are still a billion layers to every twelve seconds of music. There are these parts where all the additional overlays and effects are all dropped, however. This gives parts of the album a demo-esque feel. It's almost like some of the songs were never taken to studio. To make it clear: I don't consider this a bad thing. This has given some of the lines more power because there is such an honest feel about the album. Everything has the warmth and glow that can only be created by someone who actually loves what they are doing. I know someone is going to say that a song like Everything is a pop single, but we are talking about Nine Inch Nails here. If any of the fan base had heard that song on the radio before picking up the album, the sales would be so dismal that he would HAVE to rerelease every album ever remastered with bonus awesome to make up for the loss. The fact that Everything still made the cut lets me feel like my point is valid. Though I am curious about what was dropped, I really do think that this is the way the album was intended to be released.
But in all seriousness, the intro to Satellite pisses me the fuck off.
In conclusion, Trent (Can I call you Trent? Can I call you ever? Just one cup of coffee and you telling me how everything works?), I am a proud owner of Hesitation Marks. I know that you are getting praise from everywhere, but as a fan I am happy. Now, could you just please get me tickets to one of the shows on the upcoming tour? I missed out by a day or two.
-J
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