Originally Posted by
Shadaloo
This past decade's been a crazy time to be into NIN, hasn't it?
Recently I've been revisiting Hesitation Marks, and re-reading the initial thread here (along with the hilarious twenty pages of leak-begging that ensued) got me to start considering HM and the Trilogy as opposed to one another, and how they're both kind of a lens through which NIN examines its own past and the world surrounding it, and what that may imply for the near future.
At this point, maybe that's old hat to some, but I found that when Hesitation Marks came out, I was so enraptured along with everyone else by the new Russell Mills artwork and the exciting notion that NIN would be re-examining the themes of their undisputed classic work through Trent's more experienced eyes, that when the album came out I feel like I didn't form an honest opinion of it on my own. It was so different to what anyone was expecting - which was probably exactly the point - I kinda went along with the herd and got swept up in enjoying it because it was so very different. It's been a while since then, and with the passage of years and multiple re-listens, I've come to reconsider my opinion of it as a good record with a few flaws (that I spin whenever I wanna feel kinda groovy). So when the Trilogy came out, aside from a few comments here and there, mostly after NTAE specifically was released, I kind of didn't take part in much discussion or hype and allowed the music and myself to form our own relationship. With the passage of time I still feel like NTAE is one of the best things NIN has ever put out. It continues to kick my ass on every level. Combine that with AV and BW, and you have an experience which, in my eyes, blows away some of NIN's classic work. I'm not going to get into rankings, but suffice it to say that even now I think the Trilogy's some of the absolute best under the NIN name.
Which brings me to this: I was reading a Reddit thread yesterday (since deleted) called "In defense of Hesitation Marks", and people there were kind of putting it up on a pedestal while at the same time kind of deriding the recent EPs. I've always felt it's utter bullshit to surmise that with advancing years into an artist's career, loss of anger or rage needs to follow. I'm pushing forty, and while I may not be filled with the same kind of self-loathing and confusion I was in years past, I still find I'm not entirely comfortable in my own skin. Not only that, but with more global awareness, I also find that if anything, I'm more pissed off at the state of world affairs, whereas in my own youth I was politically apathetic. So it really irked me to see that some folks on the aforementioned thread were implying that the NTAE/AV/BW Trilogy was a result of "fake anger and aggression" or "an attempt to prove to the hardcores that Trent hadn't lost his edge after Hesitation Marks". At the time NIN put out HM, he'd said that he could have played it safe and made it an ugly record, but the brave thing to do seemed to go the opposite course. And he was right - it's still a really divisive album, from what I can ascertain.
Now, whether or not the trilogy's overall harsher sound - barring the radio-friendly single of Less Than - was a direct reaction to the response to HM and its fallout is kinda beside the point to me. TR & AR went on record as saying they didn't care whether people liked NTAE or not. I think they're past worrying about what people think, but I've lately begun to wonder if the idea of presenting the albums as looking at things through different eyes might be a useful tool to both inform how things will sound, and to inform the listener that NIN shouldn't be confined to any one sound. That way, expectations of being at X or Y point in an artist's career and so sounding a specific way can be more easily subverted or sidestepped, to those who are paying attention.
So...where am I going with this? Well:
1) HM was an personal examination of self-destructive themes from the eyes of a more experienced TR, directly looking at his younger self. Its warmer, slicker sound was directly intended to contrast against that of TDS, in service of that concept.
2) The trilogy examined a "what-if" scenario, which began as exploring the notion that NIN went on a completely different path, that TR perhaps never left New Orleans and remained an addict, only for it to widen its scope, to show that said life (or perhaps the life we find ourselves in) is a simulation, which concludes ambiguously, finding a lack of answers or meaning. Shadows on the cave wall. The albums' harsher tone was in service of those concepts; a possible alternate NIN that never entirely shook off its demons.
3) With the release of Twin Peaks and especially Watchmen, we've found TR & AR toying with the concept of "The Nine Inch Nails" - another "alternate" version of the self, more formally established - the NIN experience with a radically different lineup.
So there's a kind of a running theme lately of looking at one's environs through different lenses. I kind of want to see opinions if people are expecting, if anything, from the upcoming release along those lines. With Trent recently saying he's got a "giant pot of angst" ready to be turned into new music, I'm kind of wondering if we're going to see an actual release by TNIN through which to convey said angst. Thoughts?