Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: Hesitation Marks
Genre: Alternative rock, industrial, electronic rock
Label: Columbia Records
“I am just a copy of a copy of a.”
What is Trent Reznor trying to sing about? Is he talking about pop music in general? Is he talking about the evolution of sound or film or media in general? Or is he talking about Nine Inch Nails?
“Everything I say has come before assembled into something
I am never certain anymore
I am just a shadow of a shadow of a shadow.”
You could call the music unintelligent if you want to, but it’s certainly self-aware. The second track on Nine Inch Nails’ return from hiatus and welcoming back into the realm of major label releases is a declaration that yes, he knows this is not breaking any new ground. Yes, he is doubtful. Yes, he knows he is just a shadow of his former self. He tries to scream purpose: “I am little pieces / pieces that were picked up on the way / invented with a purpose / a purpose that’s become quite clear today.”
With Hesitation Marks, Nine Inch Nails have made their most mainstream, least groundbreaking release ever, surpassing 2005’s With Teeth as major label music that was designed from the onset to be a smash hit. Unlike With Teeth, though, there are no hits, no new ground being covered, no musical experimentation, and no bold moves or dark personal mantras. Hesitation Marks is the perfect title for this album: it wants to be catchy, perfect radio rock music, but because this band is not a pop artist at its core, the hesitation leads them to miss the target. Because everything done here is just a shadow of what they’ve done before, it is the stalest release in the NiN catalog.
It opens with “The Eater of Dreams,” a typical NiN ambient ditty that lasts less than a minute that moves swiftly into “Copy of A,” the single that sounds like every other Nine Inch Nails single you’ve ever heard before. Is it good? Absolutely. Perhaps that song best exemplifies this album: when it’s bad, it’s terrible, and when it’s good, it’s not great, but it’s almost undeniably enjoyable. “Copy of a” sounds like every NiN song you heard on MTV ten years ago or on the radio, but it isn’t as strong as “The Hand That Feeds,” “Every Day is Exactly the Same,” and certainly not on par with the genius singles from The Fragile, The Downward Spiral, or other preceding opuses. There’s only so many times you can hear bIII bVII i and still be convinced someone actually put any effort into writing the music. And yet, some of the songs are enjoyable; it’s just enjoyable in the mildest of ways.
“Came Back Haunted” is one of the worst songs on here, desperately shouting “look at me and my return!” It is a formulaic, forgettable song with nothing accomplished other than knowing that yes, you can write a song about your return and make it the first song heard upon your return. The song may as well have saved them a thousand dollars on a PR campaign (“How do we grab attention with the first song that leaks?” “We’ll come back… haunted!”) This leads into a foray of other forgettable songs that would be better off being the mediocre soundtracks to first person shooters than an album.
The only new territories ventured here are, essentially, writing melodies that focus on major intervals. If you don’t know what that means, it means some of these songs will sound (shocker) not dark or brooding. Conceptually, this opens up a whole new world of writing; there are only a handful of songs in the band’s catalog that really have this edge to it prior to this album, and with as many albums and EPs as they have, that’s a huge amount of potential. Unfortunately, the potential is wasted with terrible songwriting and abysmal hooks. These songs, the most creative on the albums, aren’t catchy, aren’t meaningful, and lack the musicianship that has always made this band stand the test of time. The best example of this is “Everything,” which sounds more like a song Pat Benatar would have written in 1986 as a filler album track than a song worth listening to twice, but another example is the fluff of “I Would For You.” By all means, some stand out songs still exist, like the oddly funky “All Time Low” or the enchanting “Various Methods of Escape,” but the majority of this meal is undercooked or a food you’ve ordered a thousand times before (and gotten better nine hundred of those times).
It should be said, however, some of the music is above average, just not great (or really, even good); on the other hand, what’s bad is just so terribly boring and lacking any sort of edge that it drags this album down. This album was started by writing two songs for a Greatest Hits collection – “Satellite” and “Everything” – and it feels as though the whole album was written to fill a contractual agreement. There’s a gorgeous EP in here somewhere – even if it lacks any killer singles – but surrounding a good body with layers and layers of fat does not make an attractive being. Self-awareness helps some artists succeed, but it brings this album down as it sounds like it was written for an insane light show rather than an enjoyable album. Trent can issue “It’s ten bucks or go fuck yourself” mantras all he wants, but that doesn’t redeem an empty experience.
Score: 5/10
Review by: Dan Bogosian (Twitter)
