So we're now officially one week away from the much anticipated Nine Inch Nails release 'Hesitation Marks'; their first since 2008's 'The Slip'.
Personally, I can't wait, its up there with AFI and Burn Halo as being one of my most anticipated albums of this year, so I thought it'd be pretty cool to do a list of my favourite NIN tracks and do a small review on them.
To start off, this is MY list, if you have a different one (you most probably will), don't fret, heck post it in the comments either on this article or on the Facebook page (link at the bottom). I've not always been a Nine Inch Nails fan, fuck to be perfectly honest I thought they were a rap band and I'm pretty sure I had them confused with Cyprus Hill for years (for real.....seriously). It wasn't till a friend told me she was really into them that I started to take notice of them, sure though this was late 2011 so there wasn't much to notice of them.
But yea, here's the list, its less formal and more of a personal review (I think I may have even invented a word; is "bassier" a word?)
"La Mer"
The first song that I ever really listened to was “La Mer”, and even then it was only because of a friend of mines had said about it. It wasn’t even till a few months after being told about it that I even attempted to listen to it, when I finally did though I was in awe. Such an incredibly beautiful track, different to the normal NIN track this one doesn’t rely as much on synths but is driven by a piano melody. With little words being said during the 4+ minutes, the only ones that are are spoken in French, it plays out the same role as an instrumental would but with these soft-spoken words, it makes the song even more striking.
"Discipline"
After having listened to “La Mer” I decided to get the entire Nine Inch Nails discography; feeling that even if I didn’t like any of their full songs (lyrics and stuff) I felt I could at least rely on instrumental tracks. After listening to it all in one night, which was NO easy feat, I can honestly say that though I discovered a lot of really good songs, there was just nothing that I would say was ground-breaking for me, until I heard “Discipline”.
This would have been last summer; which was the exact time I was really getting into metalcore and ditching punk, so synth laden songs just wasn’t something I could get on-board with. Buuuuut “Discipline” had this incredible bass line and thumping drum going pretty much constantly during the entire song. Man I loved it, I had found the NIN song that made sense, and it made the other songs make sense too!!
Add in the piano and BAM, here was this song that I fell in love with instantly and could honestly just get lost in (as queer as that sounds).
"Ringfinger"
When listening to my newly acquired discography I obviously started off at the beginning, which happened to be the 1989 album ‘Pretty Hate Machine’. Now remember I was JUST getting into metalcore and had drowned myself for months in a wash of Eighteen Visions and Every Time I Die, so this electronic-heavy album really kinda freaked me out to be honest, though two songs really stood out to me; “Something I Can Never Have” and “Ringfinger”.
“Ringfinger” had this, like “Discipline”, awesome bass line and drum beat that was hypnotising, plus the dirty-sounding guitars during the chorus probably reminded me of ETID. But the song was something new to me; I really liked Reznor’s vocals and the instrumentals were awesome too, and the electronic stuff kinda fit, it certainly wasn’t a rave, and the guitars did sound pretty heavy. Or hey, maybe I felt like I had to like some of their stuff after spending the time getting all their records so I told myself I loved it at first…..
"Something I Can Never Have"
For someone that writes a lot about metalcore and hardcore, I sure do like myself them slow songs haha. Yea, I’ll admit it, I love this song!
The entire song is just so chilling to me, that ambiance in the background, behind all the instruments and vocals, is this hum that makes parts of the song seem like it’s been cut out of Donnie Darko or something. Again, Reznor’s vocals are something that made me gravitate to this track; the pain and feeling in them sound so damn real. Plus again there’s piano, this simple tune that comes and goes, but adds so much to what is quite honestly, a real sombre-sounding song.
And I don’t know why, but I really do love the ending with the birds chirping (I’ve said enough times in other reviews about how I love songs that end in different ways).
"Sunspots"
Now this one has a similar sound to it as “Discipline”, it has this heavy bass and drum thing going on through most of the song, but set on a slower pace. Plus the synth is a lot more noticeable and more of a weapon on this track than “Discipline”. I’m not too sure when I first listened to it; I know for sure that it took a while for me to really get into it, I don’t know I think as I listened to more of Nine Inch Nails and got into stuff like Blaqk Audio I got a little more into the electronic stuff, so this one slowly crept into my favourites list.
*Sorry for the shitty lyrics video, but there was no other video of the song that I could use :( *
"Pilgrimage"
Another instrumental song, well the only true instrumental track on my list, “Pilgrimage” is just a song that I automatically loved straight away. I’m a real big fan of when bands use instrumentals, I love when an album has a short pause of such to let the listener get their breath back and get ready for the next song. This does that so well, sure it’s very electronic-ridden and quite honestly, does have a big build-up so maybe it doesn’t let the listener breath as much as some other instrumentals. Either way, it’s a real good track, and a great showing of what NIN can do without Trent Reznor’s vocals.
"Came Back Haunted"
The first track released after their 5 year (it was 5 right?) hiatus, this was the first time that I had ever heard a ‘new’ NIN track and gotten to experience that feeling you get when a new track from one of your favourite bands is released. It certainly came as a surprise to me, I didn’t expect to hear from them ever again if I’m honest, but then again I didn’t know the story or anything really about them apart from their music.
But the track is great; it’s an amazing melding of their older, more synth-centric material and their newer, more mature, guitar and vocal driven work. It’s got this pulsing beat going on at all times, similar to “Ringfinger” just bassier, that just builds up each second of the song until the chorus hits, and the song hits a simpler and more melodic sound.
What’s also pretty amazing is that it holds both the instruments and the synth-elements in perfect balance, neither get overshadowed by the other and neither take the forefront for too long, this is a trick that Reznor has obviously picked up from his years of working on the band.
There it is, my Top/Favourite Nine Inch Nails tracks, sure I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not been a lifelong fan of theirs or anything, but in the last year I have found them steadily becoming one of my favourite bands.
So yea, got something to say about this list; hell how about letting me know what your favourite NIN tracks are?
Post in the comments and let me know what you think, post your own list or head on over to the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/theghostchant).
Thanks for reading!!
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