Yeah, that part is so good. I recall Trent saying something like he wanted to do an epic Pink Floyd style guitar solo and that was the result.
ine Inch ails - Hesitation Marks |OT|
- Thread starter Sai-kun
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Yeah, that part is so good. I recall Trent saying something like he wanted to do an epic Pink Floyd style guitar solo and that was the result.
Leatherface
Member
I never knew hat. Very cool. I think parts like that are really why nothing he has done since has ever really lived up to the high points of Downward Spiral for a lot of people. It was such raw emotion captured in a very honest and simple way, effortlessly blended with his signature industrial edge. It was damn near perfect. I'll always love NIN, but that album is really special for me.
Plasticine
Member
There's maybe a dozen songs in the whole catalog that use real drums. Shit, Broken supposedly doesn't feature a single "real" instrument. It's only with his recent albums, With_Teeth and The Slip that Trent really started featuring acoustic drums. Oddly enough, those tend to be among the least liked by NIN fans.
yeah, in lowercase....
Leatherface
Member
Kano on the Phone
Member
NIN Studio candid. Atticus Ross (L) discusses the sudden appearance of a studio hand carrying a drum set with Trent Reznor (R).
indigo-cyclops
Member
They may not be actual live drums, but there are a lot of tracks that have a more organic rhythm that the drum machines miss. That's what I'm concerned with. Maybe they're all sampled as well. If the singles are anything to go by, the sound of the drums is what bugs me.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
All right, I have an official review now:
I really liked The Slip.
Trent was always a nerdy dude just dicking around with music on his computer, but now he actually sounds like one.
I really liked The Slip.
The drum machine makes everything so boring and droning and same-y. My favorite sounds from NIN have been things like the growing drum noise on Hyperpower, the factory noises in Reptile, the speed drums in March of the Pigs, etc.
Trent was always a nerdy dude just dicking around with music on his computer, but now he actually sounds like one.
Yeah, even though most of NIN's earlier tracks don't have live drumming, they sampled real drums. It make things more dynamic and lively.
His dicking around these days seems to be without focus. Even the glitches and wall-of-noise elements seem shoehorned into tracks instead of being "woven" in. As a result, we get structures like: drum machine intro - speak sing verse 1 over minimal bass - chorus 1 - glitchy verse 2 intro - speak sing verse 2 over minimal base and glitch - chorus 2 - cut to drum machine and lead-in to super glitchy bridge - chorus 3 - outro - hard stop.
I think that The Fragile (Deconstructed) remix by Keith Hillebrandt encapsulates one of my favorite NIN sounds and song structures. The part from 2:27 - 3:15 is one example of what "Fragile-esque" means to me.
Kano on the Phone
Member
I said the same thing about focus to a buddy of mine when we were talking about this record. Year Zero is my second least favorite NIN, but it at least has coherency to it. It feels like an album, one song leading to another, which is something TR has always been really, really good at. NIN songs are almost never as good out of context with the album.
Hesitation Marks doesn't have that feel and all, it has all the structure and all the life of a collection of B-Sides thrown together to fulfill a record deal.
Reave
Member
Can't track down the interview, but TR stated he basically fucked around with a drum machine to come up with HM's songs. So yep, he really is just dicking around on his computer... by design. Ugh.
WT has live drumming on almost every track
Vampirolol
Member
I LOVE this album. I'm felling like a fanboy considering that Came Back Haunted was already awesome to me and even Everything felt sincere, pretty good. But man, the whole album is already growing on me, All Time Low alone is worth it! But the thing that I prefer is that I actually "got it". Year Zero was good but it didn't click with me, The Slip felt like a bunch of songs (Echoplex and Head Down were my favourite) without a link.
Hesitation Marks feels like a concept album, finally about himself, a distorted Downward Spiral (wich yes, is still my favourite album of all time) mixed with the consciousness of The Fragile and the "I just want to make music" of With Teeth. But in almost every song you can hear that the "bastard" Reznor is still there. Black Noise is Trent Reznor from the 90's saying "Hey pig, good luck but I'm still here". And maybe I'm wrong, maybe this album was made by a monkey but who cares, I love it.
Hesitation Marks feels like a concept album, finally about himself, a distorted Downward Spiral (wich yes, is still my favourite album of all time) mixed with the consciousness of The Fragile and the "I just want to make music" of With Teeth. But in almost every song you can hear that the "bastard" Reznor is still there. Black Noise is Trent Reznor from the 90's saying "Hey pig, good luck but I'm still here". And maybe I'm wrong, maybe this album was made by a monkey but who cares, I love it.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D8HNR5W/?tag=neogaf0e-20
There is a drop down menu next to the format listing that will show you more options for that format.
Gouty
Bloodborne is shit
I'm sure the price will go down to at least $9.99 before release. That's typical Amazon pricing for pre-release music. They start out towards the MSRP and as the release date nears they get closer and closer to $9.99 or less. Few albums won't hit the $9.99 mark.
â Narayan
Member
I wish I was attending the new tour in my town, but I'm swamped with school, so I won't have any time for such a thing. I went to Lights in the Sky and Wave Goodbye. I keep hearing that this new tour is basically Lights in the Sky 2.0. That makes me BITTER AS HELL. Granted, I attended LitS at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, so I'm curious as to how the show will be at the 1stBANK Center. I honestly doubt it will be as good as LitS, but I'm sure it will kick massive ass nonetheless.
Kano on the Phone
Member
Nice try, Trent.
It's worse imo. At least WT has a couple of good songs. This has one. One good song. Singular.
Vampirolol
Member
What? I'm not Trent... I'm not who I used to be in fact, I'm on my hands and knees, nothing can stop me now! Please, take this and run far away. *plays some piano and then fades away*
Ok you got me.
indigo-cyclops
Member
I have extremely high standards for NIN/Trent, so I just now have a feeling I won't like this album...I will give it a chance though, like I did with everything.
Maybe I'm a shitty fan or something. *Hey!*
Maybe I'm a shitty fan or something. *Hey!*
Really liking All Time Low, Running, and Satelite FT Justin Timberlake.
Hey!!! Come on!!! love is not enough! Yeah!!!
indigo-cyclops
Member
Ok where am I? Did Trent seriously release an album like this?
Black Noise is the best track so far. Everything else...eh
Black Noise is the best track so far. Everything else...eh
Kano on the Phone
Member
I'm not even sure it would be album of the year if it was the only album I heard this year.
Pretty cool that "I Would For You" is just blatantly about Trent being closeted. I respect it.
TheMan
Member
first impression
first 2/3 of the album is not bad at all and some of those songs could grow on me.
last one third is pretty terrible.
usually, if an artist I like puts out an album there is at least one song that stands out and grabs me immediately. sadly, on HM I can't say that there is such a song. i already figured that NIN had peaked long ago but having that fear confirmed is kind of depressing.
first 2/3 of the album is not bad at all and some of those songs could grow on me.
last one third is pretty terrible.
usually, if an artist I like puts out an album there is at least one song that stands out and grabs me immediately. sadly, on HM I can't say that there is such a song. i already figured that NIN had peaked long ago but having that fear confirmed is kind of depressing.
Fare Godmace
Member
Why do you think so? I'm not a fanboy, I just started to listen to NIN two months ago, but I thought that I Would for You was at least decent.
Various Methods of Escape is the standout so far, followed by Copy of A. I think I already like it more than Year Zero and The Slip, so it's good on my book!
I think I'm actually liking I Would For You but I agree that this album misses the mark big time. With Teeth gets a pass from me solely because of Beside You In Time but everything else has just been satisfactory at best, uninspired and lazy at its worst.
The whole album has a super smooth industrial techno vibe to it. I can understand how some might not like it if they don't like that variation on the NIN sound, but it's good to me. It's a really awesome record throughout and upon first listen, there were very few misses. Running comes to mind as something that didn't work, but everything else mostly just kept me in that same vibe musically. No real standouts for me so far, but I'm sure something will come through.
Also....wtf at this first remix?
Edit: Yeah.....don't waste your money on the remix cd....talk about musical atrocities.
Also....wtf at this first remix?
Edit: Yeah.....don't waste your money on the remix cd....talk about musical atrocities.
Vampirolol
Member
LOL first remix feels like a fake, it's just that bad.
It reminds me of the Year Zero Remix cd, but worse.
indigo-cyclops
Member
Makes me wish for the glory days of Further Down the Spiral and Things Falling Apart.
I don't mind a more electronic/techno sound, problem is, stripped down NIN is fucking boring. The entire beauty of NIN was the sometimes chaotic, sometimes hypnotic, always beautiful layers and layers of sound. But of course, we all have different taste.
Miss.Selfdestruct
Member
If this was created by say a new indie artist trying to make it big. I would be a lot more understanding and say it was an ok attempt at grasping and blending musical elements that are currently favored by the masses. You have you wannabe JT (featuring Timbaland), your super basic drum machine(because they are solo), a funky fun tune to level things out and keep it fun, your The Cure/New Order tribute, etc.
However, this was made by a music veteran with a strong reputation and backlog to support it. Coming from him, it's as if the sole "inspiration" behind it was from asking himself "hmm.. what would happen if I come up with songs that sound like covers of other artists?"
I'll give it a few listens more. But yeah, it just sounds like a bunch of covers/ throw away album to fulfill a contract type deal.
However, this was made by a music veteran with a strong reputation and backlog to support it. Coming from him, it's as if the sole "inspiration" behind it was from asking himself "hmm.. what would happen if I come up with songs that sound like covers of other artists?"
I'll give it a few listens more. But yeah, it just sounds like a bunch of covers/ throw away album to fulfill a contract type deal.
Ollie Pooch
In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Does he seriously say "so very high" in Satellite? um....
Eh there's a few serviceable tracks...
Miss.Selfdestruct
Member
FDTS was the best remix album, imo. It was more or less a completely different album in itself since the remixes sound nothing like the original songs. Things Falling Apart was also great, but it's on a different ground.
Given what he did with that Tetsuo track. I was hoping we'd get tons more of that in a new actual NIN album. HM feels like a TR album, if that makes sense.
Ollie Pooch
In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Some of the outros are really nice, and some cool production moments. Some of the lyrics and those jarring JT style harmonies made me cringe.
Reave
Member
I get why you're asking, and I'd be glad to elaborate.
The sum of Hesitation Marks' parts reads is essentially the backwash of what's become a very flawed recording style on the part of TR. His personal resources of inspiration -- strictly in terms of music -- shows all the signs of depletion, and the alarming part about that is it's completely unbeknownst to him. What he sees as more organic song creation is actually what's dumbing down his work. It takes being quite adept at reading between the lines of his catalog to catch that. If not, HM comes off as another NIN album with another style. I think it's far worse than that.
The songs I listed earlier as being atrocities are so (in my opinion, of course) because they would have never made the cut if TR was as self-aware as he used to be. They're essentially empty filler tracks with just enough coats of polish to pass through. And as a result, there isn't much within HM, as a whole, to grasp.
It's a soulless surface value record. Bleeps, bloops and beats with the occasional shade of brilliance.
The other issue is how much his HTDA project rubbed off on his music. A few songs have quite a few vocal styles, beats and melodies that read like a Welcome Oblivion B-side. There's even a touch of Mariqueen in his vocal delivery. I suppose if you hang out at a barber shop long enough, you're bound to get a haircut.
All of this equates to Nine Inch Nails music becoming a glorified formula that won't dare deviate from the template. The artistic genius is still in there somewhere, but it didn't show up in HM whatsoever. Maybe next time, I hope.
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