Music > Album Reviews

Nine Inch Nails - Bad Witch

30/06/18

Alongside their appearance at Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival, Nine Inch Nails dropped their new record, Bad Witch, completing their trilogy of releases which includes two previous EPs, Not the Actual Events and Add Violence. Although it’s only a mere six tracks and may seem like a collection of bits and bobs on the surface, Bad Witch manages to offer a wide variety of noises all the same.

As always, creative duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (a match made in heaven) opt for instruments as a means to create thick textures rather than a definitive and recognisable melody. Tracks such as Shit Mirror, Ahead of Ourselves and God Break Down the Door are arguably the most “song-like” selections of the album, but even then they find every possible way to upset standard conventions of “song” writing. Melodies are dissonant, Reznor’s vocals sound suffocated and distorted and sing-along choruses are almost entirely absent. 

On the contrary, ‘lay the Goddamn Part, I’m Not From This World and Over and Out feel more like echoes and fragments from their work on The Social Network or Gone Girl and feel like they could have been performed in The Roudhouse on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return. 

The album doesn’t stick around for long, and yet, it’s still a worthy addition to an already stellar discography which spans over three decades. Bad Witch is undoubtedly a million miles away from the kind of material they released in the 90s and 00s, but it maintains a newer, creative consistency since Atticus Ross joined the team a few records back.

It’s really not for everyone, but if you’re a NIN fan then there’s plenty to be loved here.

8/10