It’s no surprise that Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor likes to take his time on new releases – most of the band’s classic era records were toiled over for at least five years each, and he doesn’t usually talk about release dates unless he’s totally sure about it. So, since Reznor teased new music from the seminal industrial group earlier this year, fans and have been understandably let down by the fact that there’s only two weeks left of 2016, and there hasn’t been much to go on beyond a “2016 isn’t over yet” wink at the camera. Earlier today, the official Nine Inch Nails website was updated to announce the release of a five-track EP, Not The Actual Events on December 23rd.
The site has now crashed from excitement, so here’s the skinny in the meantime, via our friends at Metal Injection:
THE EP FINDS REZNOR AND NOW OFFICIAL BANDMATE ATTICUS ROSS TAKING AN UNEXPECTED LEFT TURN FROM 2013’S HESITATION MARKS AND SOUNDING UNRECOGNIZABLE FROM THEIR CURRENT FILM WORK.
“IT’S AN UNFRIENDLY, FAIRLY IMPENETRABLE RECORD THAT WE NEEDED TO MAKE” SAYS REZNOR. “IT’S AN EP BECAUSE THAT ENDED UP BEING THE PROPER LENGTH TO TELL THAT STORY.”
2013’s Hestiation Marks was a solid release, but the bulk of it was very mellow, and had more in common with Reznor and Ross’ (admittedly exceptional) film work than what we’d normally associate with Nine Inch Nails. Atticus Ross has effectively been a member of the band since 2005’s With Teeth; the production and general atmosphere of NIN’s last five records owes a great deal to his work, so the “official bandmate” bit might not mean much in terms of stylistic changes. But, when we think Nine Inch Nails, the words “unfriendly” and “impenetrable” are definitely adjectives that come to mind, so fingers crossed on a relative return to form.
