nine inch nails - Hesitation Marks - released September 2013

Genres: Alt-Rock, Electronic

Considerably brighter than the other work by nine inch nails and noticeably less indulgent, this is a very solid set of songs. Back when I was a teenager, nine inch nails, or more correctly Trent Reznor who is the man behind the music, appealed to the emotional extremes that age group has to endure. This is how I have seen his musical output  under the nine inch nails name since 1999's The Fragile, relegated to appealing only to a time and place in someone's life but not to be held onto and easily overcome with a bit of maturity. Reznor seems as if he left behind the nhilism seen on his most notable works Pretty Hate Machine from 1989 and The Downward Spiral from 1994, personally he has gone through addiction problems and record label woes, so it is refreshing to hear brighter moments like the song 'Everything' in the middle of this set with a bright pop-hook that signals a departure from the tortured subject matter. The excellent work with Attricus Ross on The Social Network score from 2010 and the soundtrack for The Girl with Dragon Tattoo from 2011 has carried over to his nine inch nails work. There is professional restraint shown on this album and the artist seems less afraid of major keys and more hopeful lyrics than in the past. This is still definitely in the 'alternative' music mindset with lingering angst but this time out the lyrics suggest acceptance rather than loathing. Songs like 'Copy of A', 'Disappointed', 'Came Back Haunted' and 'Satellite' have beats that are designed for the dance-floor  and they are much more enduring because of it. Guitars are really pushed to the back in this production and lessening their presence and taking away that compressed guitar noise that alternative and metal acts loved in the 1990's and early 2000's forms a good way to show off that Trent Reznor is in the business of making good music and not just indulging his extremes to music.

RATING: 4/5

Here is the epileptic seizure inducing video for the song 'Came Back Haunted' by nine inch nails