Nine Inch Nails-Bad Witch (2018-New release)

[Franconia]

Who would expect that in 2018, Nine Inch Nails would release a hit album that not only ranks as one of the best in their entire discography, but one of the best albums of the year? Certainly not me, as I have disregarded most of their work after Year Zero simply because it wasn't particularly innovating or exciting. So this is a surprisingly great album.

It's also a bit of an odd one at first glance. This is barely over 30 minutes and it's still a full-length album. For Nine Inch Nails, who have made very, very long albums (see The Fragile or Ghosts I-IV), a 30-minute release that's not an EP is quite shocking. I think the album would benefit from one or two more songs but what we're given with is still great.

"Shit Mirror" opens up the album, sounding like a vintage NIN song-it's abrasive, loud, with a good beat and the usual soft-loud dynamics. It's straightforward industrial rock sounding like a more refined song off of With Teeth. That abrupt dynamic shift from distorted guitars to complete silence, at around 1:55, is pretty cool and it opens up to a good closer. The transition into "Ahead of Ourselves" is really well orchestrated, and it's another great track. This song has a great beat that's memorable and well composed, and Trent Reznor utilizes these soft/loud dynamics frequently. I mean, especially in the chorus, with "Obsolete, insignificant" in an abrasive manner, right back to the soft beat, then jumping right back to "Antiquated, irrelevant" and so-on. It's a good song that's similar to "Shit Mirror", an abrasive vintage NIN song. 

"Play the Goddamned Part" is the first of two instrumental songs on this album and it's pretty good, utilizing ambient noises mixed with jazz elements-the saxophone and horn-to create an interesting contrast, between a more abrasive industrial production with one of the most comforting and relaxing musical genres. It creates a false sense of comfort while simultaneously creating a sense of inevitable dread and gloom coming and gives off a very urban/metropolitian vibe to it. It sounds like it would be a track that would play during a video game when the main character has to run through a subway station or the city streets at night. That's the image I get in my head. Nonetheless, it's a very good instrumental, and it showcases Reznor's second-to-none ability to compose some of the oddest yet greatest ambient instrumentals.

"God Break Down the Door" follows, immediately starting with fast drumming, a good techno beat, a saxophone, contrasted with more soothing, slow, and carefree vocals to create an interesting atmosphere. This song definitely has influences in the later work of David Bowie, most notably the superstar's final work, ★ [Blackstar]. This is a good thing and even with the influence, it's not blatant and it's still a very creative and original composition. But I still feel as Reznor could've done more with it and it seems a bit aimless, but it's good nonetheless. 

"I'm Not from This World" is the album's 2nd instrumental and it's quite interesting. It starts off ambient, sounding like one of his film scores but also a bit like the soundtrack to the video game Quake. The mental image it creates for me is definitely like I'm in a game like that. There's no real beat to this until 4:50, if you could call it that, and it's definitely the most experimental and vintage track on here. I don't think it really deserves to almost be 7 minutes long but for what it is, it's a great song and it's cool to run to, as experienced this morning.

"Over and Out" is the longest song here and it finishes off the album but it's honestly my least favorite here. It starts slow and mellow with a simple beat, a bit like the previous track but less dark and apprehensive. For the first few minutes, it's just this simple beat, background distortion, some piano and some saxophone. While it's not a bad concept to use as a song introduction, I can't help but criticize the song for starting off too slow. If it takes over 3 minutes for a song to get going and it's not a progressive composition, there's a lot of ruined potential. Even when the vocals start to come and break the whole ambient/instrumental intro, it doesn't really take off and explore. It's almost 8 minutes of just an atmospheric song with simple, slow beats and vocals repeated to no end and doesn't do anything to make it more engaging or interesting. Really, the album could be rated higher if the closing song was more exciting, which brings me back to my earlier point that the album could benefit from some additional tracks. It's a disappointing closing song. I can give it credit for creating a good, spacey, almost psychedelic atmosphere, but it's just too repetitive and never truly takes off. I guess it's relaxing though, but it still pales in comparison to the previous instrumental and the other 4 good songs. But still okay.

Overall, this is probably my favorite release in 2018 so far and one of the few released albums that actually has merit to it. Reznor will never be able to create music like he did in the 90s', in his golden years of production, but this is still a strong release and one of his best works in the 21st century thus far. 

4/5 stars; on a scale of 10 it would probably be 8-8.5.

Note: This review comes from my account on RateYourMusic. For more of my reviews and hot takes, click here.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Franconia
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[Vampyrique]

I refuse to call this a full-length album.