Nine Inch Nails - My Violent Heart

Nine Inch Nails have just released their first major label album since Year Zero and it's been getting high reviews.  For me, the intervening period has been... well... let's just say not great.


The Ghosts collection and The Slip were disappointing.  Ghost's, while a cool idea, was a showcase of how wonderful a songwriter Reznor is by showing how interminably dull it is when he refuses to write any.  The Slip was essentially a second part to the frustratingly average With Teeth, an album that occasionally brushed with brilliance, but mostly simply highlighted how much of an advantage the bizarre sounds that make up the average NIN album are.

For me, the best NIN album in recent memory was Year Zero.  It was filthy, tight and electronic.  Nowhere was that quality better highlighted than on the fantastic My Violent Heart.

Building around simple, hip hop inspired drumloops, the song encapsulates the larger tone of the album, inspired by glitch music in the same way as pretty hate machine was inspired by the music of Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly.  It pulls the same magic trick as that earlier album, of fusing those bizzarre noise to potent and powerful hooks.

The song truly comes to life when its chorus hook kicks in.  You could be forgiven for mistaking the hook for a guitar line at first, until a few second later you realise that it's a blast of synth noise, not playing a distinct melody but instead a layer of distorted aggression, over which Trent spits his venomous chorus.

As part of it's post apocalyptic song cycle about an effort to transmit a warning against the dark future back in time to us, the lyrics really reflect on the overall narrative and thus shouldn't really be examined in isolation.  But they are great, a spitting anthem of defiance against a vicious police state.

I have yet to listen to Hesitation Marks.  But I do hope it's good.  It would be lovely to know one of my favorite bands have found their stride again.  But for now,  Year Zero is unique, fantastic album, and My Violent Heart is the highlight.

Posted in: Music, Music Review, My Violent Heart, Nine Inch Nails