Hesitation Marks by Nine Inch Nails
Album: Hesitation Marks
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Label: Columbia/The Null Corporation
Genre: Industrial rock/Alternative rock/Electronica
Hesitation Marks is the eighth studio album by Nine Inch Nails and his first one since 2008’s The Slip, largely due to legal disputes, and Trent Reznor’s shifted focus on film soundtracks and other project How to Destroy Angels. I have been a big fan of Nine Inch Nails’s work for a while (I just bought a shirt of their’s today, as a matter of fact). I have not listened to this album before the writing of this article with the exception of the first single “Came Back Haunted,” but I can say that I am biased towards this band, and hope that the reader forgives me because I will try to give my most reasonable opinion.
The album begins with the intro track “The Eater of Dreams,” a sinister and foreboding track that I would imagine to be a warning of tracks to come. The only words are a highly distorted and affected “The eater of dreams!” After that the song ends rather abruptly, and goes to the next song “Copy of A,” a song that belongs in a 90s dance club with the bass blasted as loudly as possible. It’s dark, it’s bouncy, and it’s not aggressive despite the lyrics seemingly to be against the conformity of mankind. You’re all copies of copies of copies! You were allraised to be the same! It’s an interestingly made riff on the lack of individuality and free thought in humanity. It kind of just explains calmly that you were doomed from the start, you couldn’t be anything else, you were always a copy. You were either born a copy or you weren’t.
The next track is the first single “Came Back Haunted,” a song whose production really surrounds you, it’s felt from everywhere. The newest fans, the oldest fans, and everybody in between will find it difficult not to bang their heads or bounce their bodies to this song. It’s minor modes and brooding atmosphere can’t stop it from being not only extremely catchy, but extremely complete sounding. Adding a bit of a personal aside, it’s nice to hear that some bands don’t lose their touch even after many years. Trent Reznor may not be as angry or sad as he used to be, and therefore the music is less “metal” and aggressive, yet he’s still this dark figure making music that’s dark, but enjoyable music that could compete with the earlier work. So many groups and artists just can’t keep what they used to have; if you’re reading this, you could probably name at least one.
“Find My Way” is next, an emotional song dealing with the difficulty of getting back on the right track after being off it for so long. The bass and piano parts reminiscent of an Angelo Badalamenti composition, with classic NIN beats and electronic additions, the vocals sounding sincere and meaningful, like it’s something he really struggles with. The deep vocals at the end of the track are a little unnecessary, I think it would have been fine if the track just repeated the style throughout the song. It would have been redundant, but I wasn’t quite keen on the nearly monotonous and rather weak deep vocal execution. This is followed by “All Time Low,” a loopy and extremely modulated track that would sound crazy if handled by anyone else. The track is probably the most like his earlier work from this album. Once the song gets into your head and you start hearing the guitar, it’s kind of hard not to imagine people making love in clubs or bars… or maybe that’s just me.
“Disappointed” is fast-paced and full of swelling guitars and electronic noises. The music is a real highlight, it’s not a super complex song, but the ambience it creates is one that is deep, intense, dark, and strong. A bit noisy, in a good way. The weak part in this song is Reznor’s vocals during the verses. I feel as though they seem insincere, like he recorded them on a day he didn’t want to be there and just okay’d it for the record.The song is followed by “Everything,” a track that could be on top 40 radio stations if those stations were a little bit cooler. It’s one of those really cool pop-structured songs that manages to make it’s way to the radio every now and again. The song also sounds very nostalgic at times; it sounds like it really takes some influences seriously, with some indietronic influence also getting in there as well. Afterwards is “Satellite,” a song that brings us to the club yet again. He says it himself in the song “I’m inside your head,” and it’s extremely sexy. He brings in his affected vocals that is all too familiar in NIN’s work. There are so many tracks in this song, it really is like being surrounded by an army of Nine Inch Nails, and those are the best tracks, the ones that circle around you, and all you can do is dance to it.
The track “Various Methods of Escape” is good, but forgetful in the context of the album. It more or less just sounds like a song off of the album, if you get what I mean. I think that the guitar playing during the refrain of this song does not mix well with the electronic music that’s being played. The guitar sounds too “rock,” when it shouldn’t be. The following track “Running,” I can’t help but compare to the track “Survivalism” off of the album Year Zero, but less angry and more disquieting. The whole track you’re waiting for something to happen, a constant build-up. Even the post-refrain with its squeaky and interesting guitar part isn’t fully climactic- but I’m not saying has to be climactic, it’s just not. I happen to like the discomfort of anticipation, and this is a very well constructed piece. It’s like watching a movie with your ears. For those of you who have seen Inglourious Basterds, think back to the opening scene before Hans Landa finds out about the Jews hiding under the floorboards, and you’re just cringing; this track gives off a similar feeling.
“I Would for You” has an infectious beat and is one of those tracks that I mentioned that totally surrounds you. It’s also one of the tracks with the most amount of movement, meaning that it it’s not just a track that repeats itself and comes to an end- not always a negative thing, but it plagues much of electronic-based music- it’s a track that has parts that are discrete, but very much part of the same song, and that is great to hear, because this album does not have much of that. “In Two” is loud and very hectic instrumentally and vocally together, in a kind of chaotic beauty kind of way. Going back and forth between the loud, chaotic verses and equally loud, yet straightforward refrains creates a strange dichotomy in the realm of heavy music. This is a track that old NIN fans will appreciate for its anger, and its solemn, brooding, electronic ambience with the later half of the track.
The following track “While I’m Still Here,” is another pretty forgetful track, which is a bit of a let-down because it’s the last full track on the record. It’s a rather boring track, and it might supposed to be on the emotional side, but it could have been executed better. Which brings us to the last track on the album, “Black Noise,” which continues the beat from the previous track and starts adding more and more white noise to it as the album quickly reaches its conclusion. It’s an interesting and cool finale, but it does not redeem the previous track.
The album overall is a very good album, with almost no poor tracks. At the same time, there are only a couple of standout tracks, but really, how many can you ask for on one album? A few problems arise in the album layout. This album has some of the poorest transitions I’ve ever heard on an album, and I wanted to save my frustration until the end of this review. Nearly every song ends so abruptly and the next track is something totally different. I get that not every album is a single big song, but you’d think that at this point in Reznor’s career, he’d be able to fade away or end tracks properly. Those are my thoughts, feel free to disagree.
Best tracks: “Copy of A;” “All Time Low;” “Everything;” “Running;” “In Two”
Not so great tracks: “While I’m Still Here”
FINAL RATING: 8/10
Tags: albums, alternative, elecronic, electronica, hesitation marks, industrial, nine inch nails, rock, september