After confirming last week that he’d been secretly working on, and completed, a brand new Nine Inch Nails album, Trent Reznor is now ready to let the music world hear the first taste of his industrial rock project’s first new material in over half a decade.
Tomorrow, Nine Inch Nails will drop a brand new single this Thursday 6th June, to be aired on Los Angeles rock station KROQ at 11.30am PDT (that’s 4.30am the next day for Australians), according to Radio.com.
The new track is titled ‘Came Back Haunted’, and KROQ’s Music Director Lisa Worden has already had the privilege of hearing the new single, saying that it “harkens back to early Nine Inch Nails.”
“I think it’s in line with the first two albums,” Worden continues, in reference to the groundbreaking 1989 debut Pretty Hate Machine and the equally revered 1994 opus, The Downward Sprial. “It’s got a great beat, it’s not the experimental material Trent’s done in the last five years,” she adds. “I wouldn’t say that it’s dance-y, but it does have a great beat, a groove. Trent really brought it with this song. It’s going to sound amazing to new fans and old. It’s just cool.”
UPDATE: A Seattle Radio Station apparently leaked ‘Came Back Haunted’ on air and, as Antiquiet reports, was swiftly disseminated online. In response to the radio leak, Nine Inch Nails have now made a full-length, high quality version, available at Soundcloud, with Reznor tweeting: “Not exactly how we planned it, but…”
In addition, the official Nine Inch Nails Twitter account then revealed that the new record is likely titled Hesitation marks and is due for release on the 3rd September this year.
halo twenty eight: hesitation marks. 9.03.13.
— Nine Inch Nails (@nineinchnails) June 6, 2013
The ‘halo twenty eight’refers to the ‘halo’ cataloguing system that Reznor has been using since Nine Inch Nails’ inception. Additionally an image posted today on the band’s Instagram account is believed to be the Hesitation Marks album artwork, as seen below
Reznor first dropped the surprise news of brand new studio material from Nine Inch Nails last week, in a statement where he admitted he’d been less than honest with his leagues of fans.
“I’ve been less than honest about what I’ve really been up to lately,” wrote the 48-year-old in a post on the band’s official website. “For the last year I’ve been secretly working non-stop with (bandmate) Atticus Ross and (producer) Alan Moulder on a new, full-length Nine Inch Nails record, which I am happy to say is finished and frankly fucking great.” “[It] harkens back to early Nine Inch Nails… I think it’s in line with the first two albums.” – Lisa Worden, KROQ
The new studio album is due before the end of the year through Columbia Records, which is also home to How To Destroy Angels, the musical side-project featuring Reznor’s wife Mariqueen Maandig, Atticuss Ross, and Rob Sheridan, who recently completed a 12-show American tour with a stunning translucent light show.
Reznor reveals that it was the creation of a new Nine Inch Nails record that was “the real impetus and motivation behind the decision to assemble a new band and tour again. My forays into film, HTDA and other projects really stimulated me creatively and I decided to focus that energy on taking Nine Inch Nails to a new place.”
The revitalised live Nine Inch Nails lineup will be presumably playing selections from the new album on the band’s forthcoming comeback world tour. Despite Reznor telling fans the contrary at the time of the official announcement. “There isn’t any new material to play,” he said of the upcoming NIN Tour, save for a “couple of tracks… that were intended to go on a greatest hits record. We decided to push that back, and there’s no new record scheduled at this point.” Since that was a clearly a fib, airing new material on tour is likely.
The current live lineup features Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Ilan Rubin, and former NIN associate Robin Finck, who replaced bassist Eric Avery following his departure last month just weeks out from the band’s debut date and headline slot at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival this July.
Though it was previously thought that he would be part of the live tour, as confirmed by Reznor, King Crimson alumni Adrian Belew is “not part of the touring band. [but] just contributed to the album,” according to Pitchfork.
To get NIN fans back in the mood ahead of their impending return, Reznor has been drip-feeding old material from the NIN archives on a newly-created Tumblr page. A veritable treasure trove of rare photos, images, artwork, and videos from the group’s long history has been made available to the public through the online archive.
Best of all is the rarely seen 75-minute tour documentary about the group’s Self Destruct Tour, which began in 1994 and ran until mid-1996 across eight massive legs to promote the landmark NIN opus, The Downward Spiral, and features cameos from Marilyn Manson and David Bowie.
Nine Ninch Nails are locked in to play a series of global music festivals, including Reading and Leeds Festival in the UK in August, as well as Lollapalooza in Chicago, and Jay-Z’s Made In America Festival in Philadelphia later in the year, with more world tour dates to be announced – hopefully including an Australian visit. Full points to the first music festival that can secure Reznor and co. (we’re looking at you Big Day Out and Soundwave).
Nine Inch Nails 2013 Tour Dates
July 26th – Niigata Prefecture, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
July 28th – Ansan, KR @ Ansan Valley Festival
August 2nd-4th – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Festival
August 9th – 11th – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival
August 15th – Kiewit, BE @ Pukkelpop
August 16th – Biddinghuizen, Holland @ Lowlands Festival
August 18th – Hockenheim, DE @ Rock ‘n’ Heim
August 23rd – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
August 24th – Paris, France @ Rock en Seine Festival
August 25th – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
August 28th – Milan, Italy @ Mediolanum Forum (w/ Tomahawk)
August 31st – Philadelphia, PA @ Made In America Festival
October 25th – 27th – Ashville, NC @ Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit
November 1st – 3rd – New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Festival
+ more dates to be announced.
