Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

Friday 4 October 2013




01 The Eater of Dreams
02 Copy of A
03 Came Back Haunted
04 Find My Way
05 All Time Low
06 Disappointed
07 Everything
08 Satellite
09 Various Methods of Escape
10 Running
11 I Would for You
12 In Two
13 While I'm Still Here
14 Black Noise

Trent Reznor is back, and he's came back haunted. After 5 years on hiatus since 2008's The Slip, he came up this year with Nine Inch Nails new album Hesitation Marks. Reznor himself not actually on hiatus as he works on Puscifer album on 2009, and soundtrack for two very good movies; The Social Network in 2010 and american version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on 2011. In 2012 he works on his personal project with his wife in How to Destroy Angels EP, and this year, beside Hesitation Marks, How to Destroy Angels also released their full album Oblivion.

The name Hesitation Marks are inspired by a 'hesitation wounds', a mark caused by weapon testing before attempting suicide. It seems for me that this album use a concept of chaos and order which collide. Based on the many version artwork of the album cover, and the lyrical about an extreme change of emotion causing from the effect of a tragedy, that would cause a renewal, a restoration and a purification of one's mind, or simply put; a catharsis. It could also covered about love and an empty space of what this world truly are, an illusion made by what advertised everywhere to make sense that something has more meaning when it's actually not.

From what i've heard, the sound range in this album compared to few albums before, are more wide ranged and slow paced. The mixing and blending sound of synth and drumbeat are also more cleaner. Perhaps the works Reznor did with two movies are inspired him to make more ambient, something like NIN's Ghost I-IV, or for more recent work like HTDA's Oblivion. The first part of the album is a bit depressing, like in the track "Copy of A", "Come Back Haunted" and "Find My Way", and getting optimistic starting from the track "Everything" to the last part of the album. In fact, i can't find which one is my favorite tracks because it's all kind of blending.