Hesitation Marks
| Nine Inch Nails
Hesitation Marks
Hesitation Marks is the eighth studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on August 30, 2013, by Columbia Records. It was the band's first release in five years, following The Slip (2008), as well as their only release on Columbia. Like previous albums, the album was produced by frontman Trent Reznor alongside longtime collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Hesitation Marks is a record that pokes and prods and teases instead of going in for the kill. It’s the first record to bear the Nine Inch Nails name since Reznor announced a hiatus in 2009 but the valorous comeback narrative is undermined by the fact that Reznor often took five years to release new NIN albums anyway. Not to mention the fact that he's remained highly active in the interim, releasing two albums with his trip-hoppy outfit How to destroy angels while embarking on a successful composing career that allowed us to see what he looks like in a suit. And yet Hesitation Marks is stuffed with more knowing resurrection references than Jay Z’s Kingdom Come.
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Rolling Stone
Hesitation Marks is an immediate reason to light the black candles. Reznor’s first NIN album in five years, it is one of his best, combining the textural exploration on the 1999 double CD The Fragile, and the tighter fury of his 1994 master blast, The Downward Spiral. There is blood here: Hesitation Marks refers to the preliminary wounds made during a suicide attempt. There is deliverance, too. You can dance to much of this terror, all the way to the brink and back.
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Spin
As a record from the gear-grinding, bloodletting, mud-sweat-and-tears, industrial void-enterer Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Hesitation Marks is an almost scandalous about-face, powering down the Hate Machine and revving up the Man-Machine, boldly exploring “EBM” for a generation of headbangers still coming to terms with the throbbing gristle of “EDM.” As part of a cultural moment, it’s the third in a trilogy of bluntly minimal albums .
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The Guardian
The musician is famously exacting when it comes to sound and, predictably, the album is impeccably produced. What's shocking, though, is that at moments it sounds – whisper it – delicate.
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Metacritic
The eighth full-length release for the Trent Reznor-led band is its first in five years was produced with Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder.
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COS
Hesitation Marks is only welcome in that it puts Nine Inch Nails on tour. But, for the album itself, the good ideas seem to have been wasted on trying to revive something that killed itself years ago.
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NME
‘Hesitation Marks’ breaks a five-year Nine Inch Nails fast that’s seen Reznor instead engaged in other pursuits: scoring films (The Social Network, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and recording as How To Destroy Angels with his wife, Mariqueen Maandig. And while ‘Hesitation Marks’ clearly has one eye on the past – check the sleeve, by ‘The Downward Spiral’ artist Russell Mills – this is the sound of a cleaner, smoother Nine Inch Nails, one that delights in complexities of rhythm more than caustic blasts of rage.
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The Quietus
Hesitation Marks is in the end a bit of a curious beast, after the explosions of noise, the portrayals of degradation and collapse, the venting about and against dystopias, everything that's charged up or underscored so much of what is Nine Inch Nails as opposed to simply Trent Reznor. It's a roiling, often tense, but just a little more calm and contemplative NIN, seemingly content to emerge and exist rather than to sweep all before it or punctuate a point. It may be more than some would care for, it may be less than some had hoped for. But just possibly, for now, for him, it's actually just right.
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Drowned In Sound
Hesitation Marks is like Leonardo Da Vinci’s sketch of the aerial screw (helicopter), hinting at what the future may hold, and blowing minds, but never getting as far as delivering on its promise. There’s a master at work, no doubt about it, but he’s already living in the future writing complex symphonies, letting the rest of us know that everything’s going to be ok.
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Av Club
Hesitation Marks’ musical evolution is just as striking. While the occasional burst of harsh noise adds requisite menace—and “I Would For You” is a classic NIN slow burn with layered vocal harmonies and indelible hooks—live drums are almost completely de-emphasized, replaced instead by glitchy rhythmic twitches, snapping electronic beats, and percolating grooves. It’s a testament to the production team of Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Alan Moulder that Hesitation Marks sounds distinct from (and has more structural definition than) any recent soundtrack or musical-score work with that instrumentation.
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Sputnik
Looks like the "bad bitch" part of Trent Reznor must have been out to lunch for the recording of his album Hesitation Marks."
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Pop Matters
As a whole, Hesitation Marks is an engaging and embracing listen, and it can certainly be said that, almost 25 years into a recording career, Reznor is still surprising listeners. Even if that biggest surprise is that he’s finally embracing what everyone knew all along: he’s always interesting and has something of value to say in this confusing and often painful world.
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Chicago Tribune
Reznor’s ability to create sounds that aren’t readily identifiable and his skill at layering those foreign tones provide the most pleasurable moments: The way the wordless choir overtakes the chorus like a big cloud and the roughed-up guitar that muscles in over the electronic bleeps on “Came Back Haunted”; the falsetto vocals and gamelan-like percussion in “Various Methods of Escape”; the speaker-rattling bass tones and darting synths underpinning a disembodied vocal on “While I’m Still Here”; the hip-hop-like snap-crackle-pop minimalism of “Disappointed” overlaid with swarming bee-hive guitars.
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Kexp
The story of the album was, in many ways, the embodiment of Reznor’s nightmares about the person he was becoming in the wake of simultaneous artistic success and personal failure. Drug usage and heavy alcoholism led Reznor down a dark (albeit financially profitable) path through the 90s until he sought help through rehab (which served as the source material for most of 2005’s With Teeth).
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Eric Mack Attacks
Hesitation Marks is Nine Inch Nails' most accomplished album since 1994's The Downward Spiral, proving Trent Reznor's artistic sensibilities haven't faded and his aging is only furthering what he has to offer us.
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Billboard
After 25 years and eight albums, Trent Reznor is finally working out his shit. The unexpectedly vulnerable "Hesitation Marks" lives in the shadows of his demons -- the fear of relapse, suspicion of his partner, delusions of both grandeur and insignificance -- but it's on the path out of the forest. "I am home/I am free," he sings on "Everything," a straightforward rock song in a major key that's unlike anything in his catalog. Despite that anomaly, and guest riffs from Lindsey Buckingham on three tracks, "Hesitation Marks" is more electronic than 2008's muscularly strummy "The Slip;" the opening of the most classically NIN track, "Copy of A," is pure acid techno. Reznor's vocals come from down a hole, an inch away from the speaker or the fifth ring, toying with the listener's sense of personal space as always. But this time when that closing piano tinkles in, it sounds peaceful, not ironic.
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Band Wagon
Hesitation Marks is a strange reflection of his altered, perhaps “matured” mental state. Another striking difference from his previous albums is the lack of heavily distorted guitars, grinding bass guitars, and real drum kits.
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Esquire
The secret to Hesitation Marks' success may be the fact that, like Bowie, he's found in middle age the sweet spot between youthful artistic ambition and an old guy's ability to laugh off prevailing trends. Unlike some of his past efforts, which were marred by efforts to borrow momentum from underground sounds and artists on their way up to the mainstream, it stands solidly on its own, and doesn't really sound like anything but Nine Inch Nails.
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Rate Your Music
The album opens with a noisy instrumental that sounds great before going into a very offset copy of a which sounds amazing as it gets further inm it is exactly what you would expect from Trent. Came back haunted follows with an amazing sound that I have come to appreciate. Followed by a soft toned find my way is a great track.
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Birth Movies Death
It's like THE FRAGILE and WITH TEETH had a really interesting kid.
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Pop Mythology
Nine Inch Nails remains viable because of Trent Reznor's meticulous craftsmanship and attention to details. 'Hesitation Marks' boasts some of his best songs in years and is the most danceable and pop-savvy album since 'Pretty Hate Machine.
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The Current
The new NIN album, Hesitation Marks, feels like a familiar friend. I swear there are synthetic sounds that ONLY Trent Reznor or Atticus Ross know how to make you hear these sounds exclusively on NIN records! And this one is chock-full of those moments, as well as the sounds that give Hesitation Marks a career retrospective vibe.
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All Music
Hesitation Marks would qualify as the most hopeful NIN album ever. Pain still punctuates the lyrics, Reznor still slides into moody black pools of sound, but there is no wallowing here, no fetishization of darkness. There is shade and light within Reznor's immaculate constructions, there is the ebb and flow of life, there is joy within the sheer sheets of sound. Hesitation Marks makes it quite clear that Trent Reznor is no longer an angry young man but rather a restless, inventive artist who is at peace with himself, and the result is a record that provides real, lasting nourishment.
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Smells Like Infinite Sadness
Hesitation Marks is a testament to surviving one’s personal demons and being the better for it. And it sounds goddamn great. Welcome back.
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Art Fuse
In Hesitation Marks, Nine Inch Nails’ frontman Trent Reznor foregoes trendy flourishes. He might have delivered a set of competently-made, stripped-back industrial tunes. But the end result is monotony.
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Sa Current
Reznor is in his comfort zone, perfecting the intoxicating blend of driving electronic beats under the haze of industrial noise and language-articulating paranoia and self-loathing.
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Album Of The Year
“Hesitation Marks” is one of the more accessible albums in Trent Reznor’s discography. But unlike “With Teeth”, it doesn’t shy away from being experimental as hell with some of the most unique production he and Atticus Ross have done yet!
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Eportfolios
The album overall is a very good album, with almost no poor tracks. At the same time, there are only a couple of standout tracks, but really, how many can you ask for on one album? A few problems arise in the album layout. This album has some of the poorest transitions I’ve ever heard on an album, and I wanted to save my frustration until the end of this review. Nearly every song ends so abruptly and the next track is something totally different. I get that not every album is a single big song, but you’d think that at this point in Reznor’s career, he’d be able to fade away or end tracks properly.
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Gig Slutz
‘Hesitation Marks’ is Reznor’s eighth album for NIN and is considerably lighter than 1994’s intense, industrial classic The Downward Spiral. The first album since 2008’s ‘The Slip’, and the subsequent breakup of the band following 2009’s ‘Wave Goodbye’ tour, ‘Hesitation Marks’ has less of the pulverising rhythms and vehement, angst-filled lyrics as its predecessors, and more of the electro-pop beats, with a distinctly peaceful, reflective tone.
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Punk News
Hesitation Marks is a solid, if typical sampling of NIN's sound presented through traditional means. It's pretty good.
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Time Out
A classic NIN album: nasty, dark and packed with pop hooks.
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Fact
Hesitation Marks follows the musical lineage that began with The Fragile, but it surpasses recent NIN albums thanks to a deeply personal thematic core and a willingness to push the songwriting into territory that is often dancier and poppier than listeners have come to expect from the band.
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The Filter Lens
“Hesitation Marks” lacks the heaviness that is present on nearly all of his past albums. “The Downward Spiral” was one of the best albums of the 90′s because of it’s wicked and menacing layers of volume. “Ruiner” actually sounded like an empire collapsing, and “March of the Pigs” was a better punk song than most punk bands are capable of writing. The layers are present on “Hesitation Marks,” but the outward anger is gone, both lyrically and musically. Instead, we get a more early-80′s sound, like Reznor opening the door a bit for Depeche Mode. While it’s disappointing on paper, Reznor still pulls it off remarkably. The album drags at points, and it’s less memorable than most NIN records, but it is still its own great thing. This is a different side of Reznor, still angry but at different targets, and flirting with commercialism. And at 61 minutes long, there’s a lot of it to take in.
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Spectrum Pulse
we're left with an album that feels distinctly 'static' (and not just talking about the rest of the album), albeit with strong leanings in the direction of Nine Inch Nails' stronger work by virtue of the instrumentation and lyrics - and I guess that's enough for me to recommend this album. If you're a fan of Nine Inch Nails, particularly their earlier stuff, I recommend Hesitation Marks. If you're a fan that likes their later material, particularly their moody electronic material, I can't guarantee you'll like this album as much, but it's still worth a look. Everyone else... hey, it's Nine Inch Nails. If you know anything about this band, you should know what you're getting into.
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Coma Music
Hesitation Marks also deviates from the last few NIN albums in that it leaves behind the heavy-handed dystopian themes of Year Zero and The Slip, instead returning to earlier NIN’s more personal lyrical themes. And though it’s not fair to dismiss NIN’s entire back catalog while listening to the newest foray, it was when I compared Hesitation Marks to my earlier NIN favorites that I had the hardest time swallowing the album. As such, it is my best recommendation to listen to it without expectation and with open ears, giving Reznor the benefit of the doubt on NIN’s “new era,” because only then could I embrace the most evocative moments on the album—of which there are many. Though it may not make sense as a NIN album coming directly after The Slip, it certainly makes sense on Reznor’s personal creative timeline as a follow-up to his post-NIN work with film scores and How to Destroy Angels. It’s safe to say that Hesitation Marks was destined to make waves—and make waves it has.
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Sound Blab
Much of the album is true to the blueprint worked on over nearly a decade of work - it's where Reznor and Ross go leftfield that you find something truly interesting. The latest single, 'Everything', is remarkable. Poppy, almost punky, and very quick, fun and vibrant, it jarred on first listen, but grows into the sequencing of the disc. Similarly, its immediate follow-up, 'Satellite' is a funky, danceable number which flirts with R&B. Lyrically, Reznor mines the same vein he's done for years, and to be frank, if you're not a teenager, the angst does get a little tiresome after a while. Perhaps this is the reason that 'Disappointed' has the vocals mixed so low for most of the song, in an implicit admission that really, now, it's all about the music.
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National Post
While Hesitation Marks clearly has one eye on the past,” Pattinson writes, “this is the sound of a cleaner, smoother Nine Inch Nails, one that delights in complexities of rhythm more than caustic blasts of rage.”
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Pretty Much Amazing
On Hesitation Marks’ polarizing gem “Everything,” one of the first songs Trent Reznor wrote for the album, he sings of survival, emancipation, and rebirth atop stacked vocals and guitars: “Wave goodbye/ Wish me well/ I’ve become something else.” The song is jarringly bright, a Nine Inch Nails power-pop anthem. Tellingly, no other track delivers such head-spinning shock. Perhaps it was an early aberration. Maybe Reznor simply lost some nerve. Oh well. If I lament what could have been, it’s only because Hesitation Marks proves greatness remains within Trent Reznor’s grasp.
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Slant
Many of his musical signifiers are still in full deployment. Reznor’s fondness for singing melodies in major keys against minor-key backing tracks (a tangy mannerism that effortlessly suggests the anguish of pubescence) hasn’t waned, nor has his affection for exaggerated dynamic contrasts. Instead of falling back on compression and distortion, he’s chosen to release this incredibly clean-sounding LP in two separate mixes: the standard issue, which is mastered for what producer Alan Moulder tagged “a more competitive level of volume,” and the “audiophiles version,” which promises “the mixes as they are without compromising the dynamics and low end.”
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Bloody Disgusting
While Hesitation Marks is not an album I’d completely disregard, it would definitely not be the first album I’d recommend to anyone getting familiar with Nine Inch Nails. It left me feeling very ‘meh’. It’s not that Trent’s irrelevant. But it seems like he’s said all he has to say, and had to scramble to say more. Just call it a day, please.
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Rich Reviewz
this album may sit completely right with those who like the mellower and controlled side to Nine Inch Nails. It’s easily imaginable that “Hesitation Marks” will be a wholly enjoyable and engaging album to sit through and it’s easy to see why the fans have split into two receptive extremes over this release. Personally, it’s a little disappointing, for what little security being a “big NIN fan” grants me. If you’re hoping for the spitting and angst-ridden side of Nine Inch Nails – “The Downward Spiral” and “With_Teeth” eras – this is probably not for you. For those who prefer “Ghosts I-IV” and the softer tracks from “The Slip”, then this will probably be very appealing.
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Boxchatter
The 14 tracks all skirt along obscure electro dance. Lyrics still speak of paranoia, self-harm and loneliness yet are sang in catchy melody to music that wouldn’t feel out of place in a club. Reznor has said that HM is a reflection on things up til now. As such each of the songs here could be seen as delicately touching upon each style NIN have implemented before.
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Washburn
Hesitation Marks, the latest CD from Nine Inch Nails, was released in stores September 3. Trent Reznor and company don’t fail to dazzle their fans with their trance-like techno that makes their music stand out alone in greatness. Hesitation Marks is considered to be their “out of retirement” release since their last tour in 2008 with their album “The Slip.”
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Golden Plec
‘Hesitation Marks’ is a very fine album. It doesn’t quite reach ‘The Downward Spiral’ or ‘The Fragile’ levels, but is easily equal to any of his post-millenial work.
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Clash
Both atheistically and texturally ‘Hesitation Marks’ nods to Reznor’s opus, ‘The Downward Spiral’ – and the artist responsible for the cover of NIN’s 1994 set, Russell Mills, returns for this album’s artwork. But there is also a minimalism at play, and an ambience that isn’t so removed from the less-hurried production style of Jamie xx.
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Audiophilia
The album is incredibly good — on musical and aesthetic levels. Each song is true to its American Industrial Rock roots, hard driving, rhythmically complex, melodically interesting, and recorded like an audiophile’s wet dream.
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Ear Buddy
Hesitation Marks is sonically somewhere between With Teeth (underrated) and Year Zero. Lyrically, Reznor has returned to the more psychological/introspective end of the spectrum, eschewing the political themes of Year Zero. The album opens with about a minute of what I’ll call ‘black noise'(which is, oddly enough, the title of the album’s closing song) that builds into the first song, “Copy of A”. The track itself has a totally old-school Nails feel to it; that is, it could easily fit on Pretty Hate Machine. Lyrics include “Look what you had this time/ Why all the change of heart?/ You need to pay your part/ A copy of a copy of a”. Reznor also states that he can be considered a copy; this suggests to me the song’s basic point is that there’s nothing new under the sun. “Everything” has an almost New Wave pop feel at first, but then the real noise kick in. The contrast is unexpected and welcome. “In Two” also features some interesting dynamics, and “I Would for You” is a slower almost-love song with the signature Reznor darkness to it.
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Cleveland
Trent Reznor is this generation’s Jim Morrison. His lyrics on Nine Inch Nails’ first album in four years are nothing short of poetry. Hesitation Marks'' someone who fails to break on through to the other side.
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The Escapist
Musically, it's nothing too surprising for Nine Inch Nails: electronic-slash-industrial with Trent Reznor's trademark kind-of-spoken-but-also-yelled-and-sung-while-whispering vocals, also known as Reznorism. In the case of this album, the Reznorism is not used in a very groundbreaking manner, but it does the job. In terms of variety... well, it's not exactly very varied if you don't pay attention, but I suppose it's a bit more complicated than that.
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Louder Than War
Hesitation Marks tells us that Nine Inch Nails have fully established themselves as a long-term music project, poised for a continued and monolithic success. Joining the ranks of cross generational bands like Metallica, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. Like it or not, Nine Inch Nails is an ever evolving juggernaut of mainstream rock and roll. Like Reznor’s role models — David Bowie and David Burne — the tracks on Hesitation Marks lay out an always accessible and edgy vibe.
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Ultimat Guitar
One can hear a few tricks carried over from "Hesitation Marks," whether it's the blipping synth arpeggios that drive "Dear World," or the wailing tremolo guitar swells in the dark atmosphere of "She's Gone Away" that previously appeared in "Disappointed." But whereas the previous album focused more on synthetic elements and honed more of a trip-hop/synthwave vibe, "Not the Actual Events" brings back the guitar power heard in Nine Inch Nails music from decades ago. The opening "Branches/Bones" is a short dose of industrial rock similar to what was heard in "With Teeth," the massive Wall of Sound that trudges on in "Burning Bright (Fields on Fire)" ends with a squealing guitar outro akin to the looping outro in "Mr. Self Destruct," and the 6/4 flow of "The Idea of You" cranks the guitars up to a classic '90s industrial metal distortion.
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News Day
The biggest change for Reznor is in his delivery. No more shouting here; his rage is tempered by two decades of experience, a stint in rehab, and a wife and two kids. He still sounds troubled in the single "Came Back Haunted," though the pain seems much more manageable, especially as he turns it into a catchy chorus of whispered "haw-haw-haunted." "Hesitation Marks" is the work of an adult, more measured, but also more masterful.
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Exclaim
Hesitation Marks is easily the most dance floor-friendly offering he's made since Pretty Hate Machine, leaning as heavily on minimal house beats as industrial clatter.
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Sf Gate
Unlike the epic productions of the past, the group's eighth full-length studio release is an endearingly subtle affair. With most of the basic tracks composed on a laptop, the beats are spare, the songwriting is lean, and the man at the center of it all sounds less angry than anxious.
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Reality Tc
NIN has definitely taken a bit of a lighter turn with Hesitation Marks—many of the tracks are more commercial and a few are very non-traditional NIN songs.
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What Culture
Hesitation Marks is an incredibly brave album that benefits from tracks like Disappointed and the layered strings that become a wall of sound that bring it to a close, and the airy saxophone that mirrors Bowie's earlier efforts in While I'm Still Here. From start to finish the album's diverse, rich in sound, and grandiose in its layers upon layers of intricate techniques spread among several contributors. It is an important return to the concept album in regards to Nine Inch Nails, and one can hope that whatever comes next is just as exciting and bold.
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Off The Tracks
It is a good album – at times it is very good. It’s probably the best NIN record since The Downward Spiral (hey, and I say that as a fan of The Fragile and of the best of that glut of stuff that was all rehearsals for the aspiring soundtrack composing sideline). But how are you going to beat The Downward Spiral? Short answer: you’re not. And so Reznor traces around that but never comes close to bottling the creeping inertia, the ugly beautifulness, the beautiful atrocity.
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Noripcord
Hesitation Marks shows that he has no intention to fall back on old formulas. He may often write about his various challenges, but it's through those experiences that he keeps challenging us as well.
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Irish Times
On Hesitation Marks Reznor and NIN edge into new sonic territory. Copy of A is a chugging, beats-driven analysis of identity issues; Find My Way is as alt.balladic as you can get; Everything is – eek! – driving, whooshing pop music. And so it continues, with Reznor in psychically cleansing lyric mode (the cathartic value of reforming chaos into order) as he throws some extremely agile ambient/ electro shapes.
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Culturefly
After five long years of silence, Nine Inch Nails bring the noise once more with Hesitation Marks – Trent Reznor’s grooviest, sexiest and straight up best album in over a decade.
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NIN
IN A DECADE OF DISTRACTION, ANGST, AND DEMORALIZATION, THERE’S BEEN NO ONE BETTER SUITED TO DOCUMENT OUR COLLECTIVE BREAKDOWN
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Medium
The thing is, unlike many post-hiatus albums, Hesitation Marks deserves the hype. The music is detached from the Nine Inch Nails of the past, but only just so. The instruments and techniques are different, the beats more dance-y, and the choruses more restrained than explosive, but the Nine Inch Nails signature remains.
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B-sides
Hesitation Marks is the band’s ninth and most recent album that released just yesterday! The album is a continuation of Nine Inch Nails’ usual industrial rock feel with added awesome external sound effects such as the echoing monsterous breathing sound playing in the background of the track “While I’m Still here” (Breyer P-Orridge ‘Howler’ Remix).
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Punk Rock Theory
Pretty much everything on “Hesitation Marks” is vintage Reznor… beats that will have you nodding along in no time and lots and lots of weird bleeps. The only thing different here is that over the years Reznor has become a happier person. You might not think it when you song titles like “All Time Low”, but it’s true.
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Hollywood Reporter
Hesitation Marks (Columbia) is aptly titled. It’s an album laced with questions, anxiety and self-doubt. It feels less like a statement from a major artist than a sidestep."
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Gold Flake Paint
Trent has opened up his wings since the new millennium, taking in more ambient sounds, elements of straight-up pop-rock and here, on Hesitation Marks, a smattering of R&B fused with electronica.
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The Verge
Nine Inch Nails is offering its new album, Hesitation Marks, in two different ways: a standard mix for the CD, iTunes, and other digital stores, and a different mix catered to audiophiles available through the band's website. This second "audiophile master" mix is the latest salvo against the overbearing loudness of pop music today, and, according to the band, it's the first time that anyone has mastered the same album twice for different audiences.
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This Is Not A Scene
“Hesitation Marks” is the sunrise and the sense of calm relief at the end of this bleak industrial nightmare. “Hesitation Marks” is an album full of lush production, layered and organic beats, and lyrics full of hope and realisation. This is the realest album, this band has produced since “The Fragile” and I say real in the sense that it comes from a real place of emotional substance, that is inside all of us. This is the light at the end of the tunnel, the moment when you realise it’s OK to let go and that in doing so you have regained control over who you are. This is the Nine Inch Nails album I’ve been waiting for since the band reformed the first time in 2005. I realise that in some cases this won’t be the case for everyone, but you will take away from “Hesitation Marks” what you put into it, the more you put into it, the more rewarding the album becomes.
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Regen Magazine
“My thoughts on Nine Inch Nails’ Hesitation Marks can pretty much be summed up by the first lyrics that you hear in the album. ‘I am a copy of a copy of a copy.’ For many years, Trent and Nine Inch Nails have been imitated not only by the electronic scene, but also from the metal, punk, emo, pop, IDM, and ambient musicians. I think this album is his way of imitating those people trying to imitate him and coming out on the other end with something that raises that bar yet again. This album is not dated, trendy, nor ahead of its time, and yet I feel Trent and company have yet again pushed the boundaries of originality and creativity.
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The Needle Drop
After the incredibly textured and forward-thinking the Slip in '08, Nine Inch Nails returns with a bit of a throwback on Hesitation Marks.
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New England Music News
On Hesitation Marks Reznor pulls from every element of his previous pieces of work and it both sounds like an evolution and a throwback for the band.
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Baltimore Sun
Hesitation Marks (Columbia) represents both a retrench and re-think of what Nine Inch Nails is. This is Adult Contemporary Nine Inch Nails, subtle, curated Nine Inch Nails, Nine Inch Nails with swear words on only one track. Where the charge of this music once came from the vengeful three-tiered lash of acidic synthesizers, flambe'd guitars, and Reznor's red-hot coal of a vocal, today the juice is more compositional, stemming from immaculately produced interplays of electronics and live performance.
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Music OMH
The primary observation you make when listening to Hesitation Marks, a title that refers to hesitant cuts that people inflict upon themselves when attempting suicide, is that the album doesn’t really sound very dark, or at least as dark as its title suggests. In fact, many of its songs fit in with Nine Inch Nails’ simple, but memorable lyrics meets danceable beats archetype exemplified by Closer and The Hand That Feeds. All in all, Hesitation Marks is a catchy album, from the arpeggiated, sparkly synths of All Time Low to the industrial electronica of Copy Of A and irresistible lead single Came Back Haunted.
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KKFI
Lyrically Hesitation Marks myopically focuses on fleeing. The pulsating “Running” scans for hiding spots and comes up empty-handed; leaving Reznor to resign “I’ll never get away.” Penultimate track “While I’m Still Here” sees time sprinting away, each lap brings Reznor one step closer to the end. Even “Copy of A” concerns Reznor’s attempts to “catch up with myself.” The race Reznor is really running is to reclaim the throne. Desolate industrial nihilism tempered by dance-pop sensibilities is no-longer a non-starter and Reznor’s empire is being encroached upon.
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Revenant Media
Hesitation Marks is the perfect musical evolution for a man who’s been influencing multiple music genres for over two decades and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. Reznor has once again proven himself as the most vital artist in music today.
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Urchicago
Hesitation Marks is damn good. Forgiving a few missteps like the cheeseball surf-rock guitars of “Everything” and the well-produced but going-nowhere “Find My Way,” this is the Nine Inch Nails record we’ve been waiting for since 1999.
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On Tour Monthly
Hesitation Marks is a breakdown of the term given to the self-inflicted wounds which can occur before suicide—a mutilation, of sorts. Perhaps the title’s reference is an indictment to the ongoing defacement of the industrial genre Reznor has so deftly cultivated over the past 25 years, which would also explain NIN’s new role as protector versus ambassador. Regardless of intent, Hesitation Marks enunciates the intricacies of electronic music better than its hordes of would-be imitators. The record is coldly haunting, lavishly exciting and unabashedly brutal in its precise execution.
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Panther Now
The recent release of “Hesitation Marks” has brought about this There was so much uproar over this, that fans eventually set up an online petition to remove “Everything” from the album, a song that may sound different for NIN at first, but still has potential.
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Stereoboard
Their eighth full-length, ‘Hesitation Marks’, is something of a comeback record after the band’s surprise reformation, with Reznor returning to where it all began after time spent composing film scores and experimenting with How To Destroy Angels. And it delivers.
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New Europe
Nine Inch Nails, "Hesitation Marks" (Columbia) Sun-kissed harmonies, funk-flecked guitar lines and — whisper it — a saxophone workout all make an appearance on "Hesitation Marks," a surprising new offering from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails after a lengthy, self-imposed hiatus.
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Revenant Media
Hesitation Marks is the perfect musical evolution for a man who’s been influencing multiple music genres for over two decades and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. Reznor has once again proven himself as the most vital artist in music today.
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Urchicago
Hesitation Marks is damn good. Forgiving a few missteps like the cheeseball surf-rock guitars of “Everything” and the well-produced but going-nowhere “Find My Way,” this is the Nine Inch Nails record we’ve been waiting for since 1999.
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On Tour Monthly
Hesitation Marks is a breakdown of the term given to the self-inflicted wounds which can occur before suicide—a mutilation, of sorts. Perhaps the title’s reference is an indictment to the ongoing defacement of the industrial genre Reznor has so deftly cultivated over the past 25 years, which would also explain NIN’s new role as protector versus ambassador. Regardless of intent, Hesitation Marks enunciates the intricacies of electronic music better than its hordes of would-be imitators. The record is coldly haunting, lavishly exciting and unabashedly brutal in its precise execution.
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Panther Now
The recent release of “Hesitation Marks” has brought about this There was so much uproar over this, that fans eventually set up an online petition to remove “Everything” from the album, a song that may sound different for NIN at first, but still has potential.
-
Stereoboard
Their eighth full-length, ‘Hesitation Marks’, is something of a comeback record after the band’s surprise reformation, with Reznor returning to where it all began after time spent composing film scores and experimenting with How To Destroy Angels. And it delivers.
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New Europe
Nine Inch Nails, "Hesitation Marks" (Columbia) Sun-kissed harmonies, funk-flecked guitar lines and — whisper it — a saxophone workout all make an appearance on "Hesitation Marks," a surprising new offering from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails after a lengthy, self-imposed hiatus.
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Progarchives
Hesitation Marks carries a creative, wide variety of accessible sounds that will grow on you like you wouldn't believe. Starting off with the joined track The Eater of Dreams/Copy of A, I was greated with a slightly eerie dial tone sounding electronic piece that is reminiscent of a strange form of morse code. The Eater of Dreams is a short little intro that was composed by Alessandro Cortini, and it marks one of his few contributions to the album, but sets the stage nicely for Copy of A, which is a track that is probably Reznor's least sophisticated song lyrically, but the tech house laden song does carry some interesting transitions and has a killer chorus that is incredibly catchy.
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The Daily Aztec
If there is any problem to be had, it would be the running time being a bit on the long side. As dense and ambitious as “Hesitation Marks” is, though, it is also accessible to a wider audience. Reznor’s sophisticated pop writing should also convert previous skeptics who saw Nine Inch Nails as just noise. “Hesitation Marks” not only cements the impressive longevity of Nine Inch Nails, but also serves as a fresh introduction to newcomers. For a singer who topped the charts screaming obscenities, Reznor has come a long way.
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Nz Herald
Despite the occasional misfire, Hesitation Marks treads a difficult path well, combining maturity with introspection, reflection, subtlety and progression.
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Minnesota Connected
Sonically-speaking, Hesitation Marks re-establishes Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails as master(s) of creating simultaneously unsettling and invigorating timbres. I heard deep sub synth basses, quirky electronic drums, old-school rock guitars, vast synth pads, some acoustic piano, and a (sampled?) baritone sax for good measure. Reznor’s voice has matured gracefully, and this fact is accentuated by the judicious use of unique vocal effects.
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Anhedonic Headphones
Hesitation Marks is incredibly top heavy—the pacing slows just a little bit on all those beats after the back half starts. However, one of the album’s best songs, “Various Methods of Escape,” comes in early into the second act. Unassuming during the verses, the refrain is huge—but not like it’s trying too hard to become an anthem. Handclaps, strummy guitars, and Reznor hitting things up in a higher, rarely used range, allow this to be one of the more unique tracks on the album.
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Shield
“Hesitation Marks” represents the evolution on NIN and remnants of NIN greatest albums can be found here. It’s accessible to newcomers but also doesn’t stray from what made this group reach mammoth status.
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The Purbalite
The classic industrial sound that made Nine Inch Nails legendary is not lost with this newest album, Hesitation Marks. Trent Reznor, the sole official member of the band, manages to blend the sounds that put him to the top of charts, but also incorporates newer, unexpected influences.
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AP
The intriguing “Hesitation Marks” often resembles a ship trying to break free from its moorings. Once the final rope snaps, Reznor promises to deliver one hell of a trip - but, until then, longtime fans of Nine Inch Nails will be relieved to find that underneath the album’s occasionally bright, brash surface there’s still a heart of darkness beating strong and steady.
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IMDB
Trent Reznor returns with not only a new album, but a new outlook on life.
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Dead Press
‘Hesitation Marks’ typically requires repeat listening to truly unmask all of its subtle gems, yet it also sees Nine Inch Nails at perhaps their most accessible and, if not upbeat it certainly on occasional straddles the line of cheerful. Maybe this was to be expected from a man who has achieved such ample success as Reznor has in recent years, yet what’s crucially apparent here is that his well of ideas and celebrated song-smithery promises only more epidemic acclaim.
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Property of Zack
Hesitation Marks closes with “While I’m Still Here” and “Black Noise.” The two tracks combine to showcase all the prominent fixtures of the album into one. Complete with pop tones, a pinch of sexuality, and the standard creepiness of the band’s own brand of industrial, it is here where Hesitation Marks comes full circle making it one of the band’s most complete and complex works to date.
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The Horizon Sun
The new album, Hesitation Marks, is just as dark as its predecessors, yet it captures a careful balance of anger and reflection. This beautiful balance is not captured in the first single of the album, “Came Back Haunted,” which is a very unmemorable, jagged song, with overly crowded instrumentation. However, the second single, “Copy of A,” is an awesome opener for the album, and the lyrics are just as clever as the instrumentation is beautiful. “Everything,” the third single, is possibly one of the most original and happy sounding songs Nine Inch Nails has ever made.
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Amoeba
After years of descending further and further into blacker, more somber, angstier noisescapes, then a wildly successful gig composing film scores, alternative rock god Trent Reznor is back with...a whole album of catchy funtime electropop! I guess rehab, fatherhood and success have lightened his mood a little. Whatever the reason, these are some seriously blippy, danceable tunes that would make any of his '80s forebears, from Numan to Depeche Mode to the Human League, proud. Not what I was expecting. It's still unmistakeably Nine Inch Nails, from the snarling, intense lyrics to the forward-sounding aurual creativity. But it IS nice to hear him put his aggressive sonic attack to work on some peppy retro-'80s new wave bubblegum.
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Mostly Retro
Hesitation Marks came out several weeks ago, so I feel that me reviewing it would be kind of pointless by now. Want my quick take? It’s a good record, a nice return for Trent into the world of Nine Inch Nails, and an interesting change of pace. I like that he’s expanding his sound to include more synthpop and electronic elements, and I hope he continues to branch out and away from the industrial sound he’s known for. “Everything” “Copy Of A” and “Came Back Haunted” are great tracks, with the last really showing how Reznor has grown as a songwriter.
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Comics Astonish
I enjoyed the album immensely and think it is an absolutely brilliant work in all regards. It is a total success and I congratulate Trent and company on the superb work done.
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Listen Here
Now with the release of his latest album Hesitation Marks, Reznor has decided to bring Nine Inch Nails back to life after deciding that “Nine Inch Nails needed to go away for awhile.” While the album won’t appeal to mainstream fans, those who are already a fan of Nine Inch Nails and industrial music will love it.
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Overdrive
Is Hesitation Marks a worthy return for NIN? Most certainly, and it’s probably the best collection of tracks they’ve put together since With Teeth, eclipsing both Year Zero and The Slip. Reznor is almost sure to find his sought-after ‘sophisticated audience’ (oh can’t you hear the bitterness in my voice as I write those words?) with this album; if you’re a fan of modern electronic and Reznor’s soundtrack work you’re likely to eat this album up, not to mention if you’re one of those fools who proclaimed Ghosts to be NIN’s best album.
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Puregrain Audio
Individually most of these songs are able to stand on their own as some of NIN's better work, but when listened to in succession and especially in one sitting, the aural experience that is Hesitation Marks is something super-special and most certainly well worthy of your time.
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IDS
Though “Hesitation Marks” never seems to reach the wrist-slitting rage levels of “I want to f**** you like an animal,” Reznor still seems pretty pissed off. Even Reznor’s voice, which has been perfectly maintained over the past twenty years, almost tricks the ear into sounding like the 1994 hit “Closer” during the bridge of “Came Back Haunted.”
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
The new album returns to a “traditional” sound of Nine Inch Nails, however it does lack some of the guitar-worship that was seen on previous Nine Inch Nails albums — here I’m thinking of With Teeth; the entirety of Hesitation Marks sounds more pop than anything Reznor has released so far.
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Niles West News
After taking a few year break from recording as Nine Inch Nails to pursue other projects, Trent Reznor is back at it with his latest NIN album, Hesitation Marks. From the very title of the album, one knows that this will be more of the classic twisted Trent that put him on the alternative music map in the early nineties, and the tracks don’t disappoint. Even to a rocker like myself who will grab a guitar over a synthesizer any day of the week, Hesitation Marks was a good listen.
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Tiny Mixtapes
A new album, Hesitation Marks has been announced for a September 3 release date, and the new single, “Came Back Haunted,” showcases hooks that sink even deeper than anything off of The Slip.
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Rebel Music
Hesitation Marks is a mature album, suited up with the band’s trademark electronic sounds mixed with remarkable guitars and Reznor’s warm voice. Although there’s a prevalence of electronics, the track-list takes us to enjoyable digressions of styles with the light-rock of Everything and the Bowie-sounding All time low. The greatest strength of the album is – in pure NIN style – the progression, variation and evolution of each song.
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Kitty Sneeze
Hestitation Marks, though he’s gone back to more autobiographically-inspired material, the growth is there.
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Meg
The album concludes with something of an anti-climax with underwhelming bleeping of While Im Still Here and Black Noise. Much of the music feels processed within an inch of its life.
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Diy
‘Hesitation Marks’ represents a renewed energy, at an almost unmatched level, packaged into something of a musical scrapbook; Trent Reznor’s audio fingerprint. It even eschews his traditional rage and anxiety in favour of more resolute and rational statements, with a greater degree of certainty and finality than anyone’s come to expect. As a whole it’s secure and consistent in a blippy, mechanical march but under closer inspection it beats and pulses in a deceptively organic way.
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Las Vegas Weekly
Hesitation Marks is more icy and atmospheric than the intense industrial of NIN’s best known work, but it also has a surprising pop accessibility that harkens all the way back to 1989 NIN debut Pretty Hate Machine.
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Mxdwn
Hesitation Marks is not a narrative or concept album à la Spiral or 2007’s Year Zero. It is a collection threaded together by sound, rather than theme. It is more electronics– synths, drones, programmed beats– than power chords and pounding bass. Those who may be surprised (or disappointed?) are forgetting that the height of NIN’s guitar sound was twenty years ago. The imperfections of humanity have always been forced against the precision of programming, but since the mid-’90s, Reznor has steadily shifted the balance of power to the machine. With fewer guitar parts and nary a piano ballad, Hesitation Marks is NIN for a new era.
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Duluth News Tribune
"Hesitation Marks" is an album that no one even knew was in the works until it was announced a few months back, yet it always seemed inevitable that ol' Gloomy Gus would want to reclaim his crown of you-know-what eventually. So, what we have here is a record that has to match or exceed expectations while also justifying its existence; it kinda does neither.
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Campus Circle
Hesitation Marks doesn’t possess the same novelty and fervor those chart-topping albums exhibited well over a decade ago, it still has its moments. “Came Back Haunted” has that radio-friendly sound worthy of being the record’s first single, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if “All Time Low” eventually found its way onto the airwaves thanks to a catchy guitar riff compliments of King Crimson’s Adrian Belew.
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Mxdwn
Hesitation Marks is not a narrative or concept album à la Spiral or 2007’s Year Zero. It is a collection threaded together by sound, rather than theme. It is more electronics– synths, drones, programmed beats– than power chords and pounding bass. Those who may be surprised (or disappointed?) are forgetting that the height of NIN’s guitar sound was twenty years ago. The imperfections of humanity have always been forced against the precision of programming, but since the mid-’90s, Reznor has steadily shifted the balance of power to the machine. With fewer guitar parts and nary a piano ballad, Hesitation Marks is NIN for a new era.
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Duluth News Tribune
"Hesitation Marks" is an album that no one even knew was in the works until it was announced a few months back, yet it always seemed inevitable that ol' Gloomy Gus would want to reclaim his crown of you-know-what eventually. So, what we have here is a record that has to match or exceed expectations while also justifying its existence; it kinda does neither.
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Campus Circle
Hesitation Marks doesn’t possess the same novelty and fervor those chart-topping albums exhibited well over a decade ago, it still has its moments. “Came Back Haunted” has that radio-friendly sound worthy of being the record’s first single, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if “All Time Low” eventually found its way onto the airwaves thanks to a catchy guitar riff compliments of King Crimson’s Adrian Belew.
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Deviant Art
Hesitation Marks, from it's name, to the album cover, and the similar length of songtracks, people were expecting HM to be the New Downward Spiral, much to their disappointment. While I can't deny the connotations between the two were intended, I never go into a NIN album expecting the same thing. He's flexed his muscles on all of his albums, some just where more impressive than others. As for this one, people felt that Trent Reznor was getting soft on not only his voice, but also the instruments he was going for and the industrial rock music he had identified himself with. While I can't say that's not true for this album, there is still some gems hidden under the otherwise padded down parts of the song.
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Pinterest
On 'Hesitation Marks,' the first Nine Inch Nails album in five years, Trent Reznor threw a dance party at the edge of oblivion.
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Jambands
It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard from that Trent, the songwriter. The man who made the world dance and shout to his own sorrow and fears as the true icon of the industrial era. And with Hesitation Marks, the first NIN LP to ever appear on Columbia Records, he returns in spades.
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