Now I've listened to Hesitation Marks twice. I didn't really like it first time, but on another listen with
headphones it began to sound a lot better. I'd say I enjoy it more than Year Zero (which is very good, but a
bit too long, 16 songs are simply too much).
Like every other NIN album, it sounds rather unique. Instead of walls of distortion on The Slip, the songs are
based more on electronic beats and sounds. Live drums are almost completely absent. I'd say it's the most
danceable album since PHM.
On the first time I found lot of things to criticize. First and foremost, Trent has began to use similar song structures. It is a rather new phenomenon, i.e. the songs on With Teeth don't sound pretty much anything else they had done before or similat to each other. On Year Zero, however, the some songs began to resemblance each other (choruses of The Big Come Down and The Beginning of the End, vocal rhythms in verses of The Good Soldier and God Given...). Most of the track on HM remind of me something else they have done before, or I recognize some structure I've heard before, like one different chord per one measure-chorus, and this pattern is repeated four times (All Time Low, Disappointed and Running, previously on The Line Begins to Blur and In This Twilight). Trent should break these musical rules he seem to have set himself. Even though the album sounds quite unique sonically, the songs don't that much. I hear echoes from Year Zero, The Fragile and The Slip, and on some rare occasion from With Teeth and The Downward Spiral. Lyrics aren't what they used to be, there are no masterpieces like Sanctified, Hurt or Somewhat Damaged. I know Trent is happier than ever so I guess he isn't able to write so, ehm, angsty (in a good way) lyrics, but if he's happy, I am too.
But you know what? The album rocks anyway! There are no songs I dislike, and there is still some very fresh sounding tracks, like Copy of A, Find My Way, Disappointed and Running. I think it still has potential to grow, but I don't think it's not going to pass other albums than YZ because of its flaws.
Oh, and NIN survivor is going to begin 13th of September.
Topic: Nine Inch Nails (Read 43785 times)
