It has been five years since Trent Reznor put the brakes on his Nine Inch Nails project, and “Hesitation Marks” is the return to his 24-year-old, industry-defying act. The choice CDs for angst-filled teenagers of the ‘90s, Nine Inch Nails albums are known for dark and troubled songs backed by industrial rock distortion and a synthpop noise. “Hesitation Marks” seems to be reaching back into that early and distinctive Nine Inch Nails style for influence, but something about the album is different compared to past records. Nine Inch Nails has evolved. Nine Inch Nails has matured.
EXPERIMENTS WITH ELECTRONICA
Electronic pops open up the album as moaning sounds and hums skitter into a build that pushes itself into "Copy of A," the first full song on the album. The electronica presents itself early on with a pulsating energy that translates into a head-bobbing and foot-tapping beat. From deep bass lines to edgy and twitchy sounds culminating into layered builds, “Marks” rests comfortably in the repertoire of previous Nails albums by embracing all aspects of the past. There are the frantic and edgy tones of early NIN to the more recent ambient soundscapes of “The Fragile” and “Ghosts I-IV.” This album acts as a summation of Reznor's past musical creations. But for all the dark and foreboding elements that would be expected from Reznor, when compared to past NIN works, this album surprises by moving with a bright skip and almost happy pep.
By the time "Came Back Haunted" follows "Copy of A," the album establishes its bend toward minimalist electronic rock with ambient walls of sound filling in the gaps. Tracks show up and play out expectedly, until they take a twist and turn into unpredicted alleys of Reznor's creative mind. For instance, a guitar moans its way into a stomping bass beat with an entangled guitar line on "All Time Low," only to end with a circling run on the synthesizer.
And just when “Hesitation Marks” feels like it's boxed itself into a style, Reznor throws in the three-and-a-half minute, roll-down-the-windows-and-blast-it-loud rock song "Everything" with vocal harmonies and a spirited drum for good measure. "Running" provides breathless vocals interrupted by a jittery guitar over a polyrhythmic, tribal surge that is full of restrained energy waiting to be let out. "I Would For You" has a shout-to-the-sky power chorus, and "In Two" yells between distorted-to-falsetto vocals over a throwdown of marching noise and rhythms. This song feels like Reznor is calculating his next move on where to take the song, which ultimately results in a build, opting to grow quietly, then forcing itself into a crescendo.
EVEN MINIMAL TRACKS STAND OUT
By far the most enigmatic track from the album is "While I'm Still Here." It's a minimal song — the most minimal track by far — that plinks and plods its way through a back-and-forth between lo-fi murmurs and hi-fi shouting. It plays out like a Tom Waits inspired piece, but without the growl. The song adds layers through drones of a guitar that picks its way through a handful of notes. And just to mess with the listener even more, Reznor finishes the song by throwing in a saxophone-driven horn line that stops as soon as you can recover from where it even came from. To top off the album, "While I'm Still Here" trots into the final song, giving way to a buildup of combating drones, like monsters calling out into the night, all before abruptly cutting out.
Lyrically, this Nine Inch Nails album is vastly different, marking a perceivable change that has been happening throughout the past few albums. While there are sure to be those who call the lyrics dark, gone are the angry and sinister songs about sex, religion, drugs and suicide. Instead, there are songs about paranoia and survival, questions of identity and being disillusioned. Reznor is not known for singing songs about personal subject matter, but when he sings about being a copy, a shadow or an echo of a former self on "Copy of A," it leads one to wonder if Trent Reznor is rethinking the image of Nine Inch Nails and where he is now. In the five-year break he took from NIN, he married and won an Oscar for “The Social Network” soundtrack. And now he's pushing 50 years of age with children in his life. This is a mature Nine Inch Nails record with nuanced music and controlled sensibilities. And it is a welcomed sound.
