Hesitation Marks

Nine Inch Nails’ incredible performance at the recent Lollapalooza festival in Chicago fairly whetted the appetite for Hesitation Marks, their eighth studio album. Indeed, thanks to the amazing visuals and impeccable sound, it upped the ante for live performance in a way I haven’t seen since U2’s Zoo TV tour.
The attention to detail evident in that performance – a hallmark of Trent Reznor’s output – is also present throughout Hesitation Marks. Undoubtedly, Reznor has his weaknesses as an artist. Chief amongst them are one-dimensional lyrics (nearly every song in the NIN canon is a variation on “I’m fucked up”) and a fondness for goth melodrama. But as a producer, he has few equals. As amply demonstrated throughout Hesitation Marks, Reznor continues to warp, distort and generally fuck up sound with considerable brilliance.
The album opens with the unstoppable electro juggernauts ‘Copy Of A’ and ‘Came Back Haunted’, whilst the bruising likes of ‘Disappointed’, ‘Running’ and ‘In Two’ are all throbbing synths, glitch-y beats and squalling guitars. The best tracks, though, are the tranquilised, eerie ‘Find My Way’ and the industrial-funk workout ‘All Time Low’, the latter of which features some Prince-like falsetto reminiscent of ‘Closer’. As usual, Reznor cherrypicks from the best of contemporary electro music – there are touches of DFA-style dance, bristling industrial and even dubstep – but it all ends up sounding satisfyingly NIN.
Now pushing 50 and a married father of two, Reznor demonstrates on Hesitation Marks that he’s lost none of his bite.

Key Track: 'All Time Low'