Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

AlanMorlock t1_j5sblvn wrote

NIN made a trilogy of EPs from 2016- 2018

Not the Actual Events, Add Violence, and Bad Witch

I'm less into Add Violence overall myself but Bad Witch and NtAE rule.

If you weren't just being snarky in saying they didn't release anything after Hesitattion Marks, you might be quite pleased with these 3 releases. Some real strong material accompanied by some of their best touring performances.

Also hell, they released more Ghosts volumes at the start of the pandemic, though I suspect they might be connected to some film score gigs they bailed on.

Bottom line, there's been a shitton of NIN after Hesitation Marks.

0

SpiralSuitcase t1_j5tuq3o wrote

I was in fact being snarky. I've been really disappointed in the output of NIN since...about the time that Atticus was made an "official" member I guess. But I think that's just a coincidence. I think they've gotten into the moody film score mentality, and honestly even with that I think their best stuff was in the early Fincher movies. The soundtrack to The Social Network was great and I think it's been diminishing returns since. To put it another way, I used to seek out movies specifically because Trent/Atticus were scoring them, and I no longer do.

I've also always been really partial to the Book of Eli soundtrack as well, which is only credited to Atticus.

The new EP stuff as well as the Ghosts releases seem really hindered by their resemblance to the film score stuff they were doing. I was not impressed. There has been a lot more focus on meandering techno-industrial soundscapes and noise rock. The newer EP/Album output feels like at most 1 song that would have been one of the lesser known, buried tracks on Hesitation Marks surrounded by rejected soundtrack cuts. And I thought it would be comedically effective to pretend that they didn't exist. I think the official term for this is "Crystal Skulling."

Honestly, I didn't even really like Hesitation Marks THAT much but the tour they did in support was just obscenely good, which made me appreciate those songs a bit better. But that's the last time I really enjoyed what they were doing. I also don't think that album is particularly well known, so it's extra funny to me to think that I'd be the kind of person who knows (or googled) that album, but is somehow completely unaware of everything they've done since.

1