Review: Hesitation Marks, by Nine Inch Nails

As a big fan of Nine Inch Nails, this album got me pretty excited when it was announced. I have every major release, and most of the remix albums, by this group. As a result, my expectations were quite high, especially when I heard the new single late one night on Facebook (interesting enough, I logged on and the first thing on my news feed was the new song).

With all of the hype and anticipation, how does the new album stand up? Surprisingly well, actually.

Hesitation Marks is a return to form, of sorts. After becoming steadily more rock-oriented and stripped down over the last 3 albums, this album marks a swift 180 in style. In a lot of ways, this album is a lot like Pretty Hate Machine. Those hoping for the harsher industrial music NIN made mid-career, this is not the album you're looking for. There are plenty of infectious beats, starting with the second track, "Copy Of A," and continuing onwards from there. It's a lot like With Teeth with the way the tracks tend to straddle the line between dark and sad, and upbeat (melancholy and dark most of the time, with a rather upbeat chorus) and in the way that most tracks land firmly in the "dark" category. There is one notable exception, which is also the worst song on the album, and that is "Everything." The song switches between what amounts to Nine Inch Nails' take on pop-punk with an emphasis on pop (complete with harmonised group singing of the first word of each sentence) and an abrasive, distorted chorus (which on it's own is not a bad thing). The two just don't mix very well, and it sticks out like a broken thumb.

Besides that, the cd is quite good. As always with Nine Inch Nails, the emotion bleeds through the lyrics; Trent Reznor has retained his ability to clearly telegraph feelings without becoming comically angsty like many other bands. Very few people can carry that into old age while remaining believable but, as demonstrated here, it can be done.

All things considered, this is a very good album, and a quite good NIN album. It's quite catchy and varies the beats and rhythms enough to avoid the common pitfall many bands playing similar types of music fall into, which is making all of the songs sound the same, with little in the way of song structure and focused solely on being easy to dance to. There are straightforward danceable tunes ("Came Back Haunted"), there are slower and more ambient tracks ("Find My Way"), and there are some funkier beats as well ("Satellite"). Most of the songs have some sort of distortion, echo, or ambient sounds, and it really brings out the tone of each song quite effectively. As always, Nine Inch Nails manages to hold the listener's interest throughout the album.

Definitely worth your money if you're a Nine Inch Nails fan, or just enjoy their electronic music more focused on song structure than repetitive dancing beats.

Final Verdict

7.5/10