New NIN: Not The Actual Events

Hey duders, I was wondering if any of you had a chance to check out the new Nine Inch Nails EP 'Not The Actual Events'?

I've been listening to it a lot for the last 24 hours and it's really grown on me. Like with most early NIN, at first you are confronted with a wall of noise that seems impenetrable, but after a while, your ears pick out the layers and melodies and you start to hear and appreciate the song.

It feels like a classic industrial EP but with all the Reznor and Ross flair from the HTDA stuff. I can't imagine any of the tracks being performed live, which intrigues me as to whether they would be.

Anyway, I know some of you must be NIN fans, so what do you guys think? Are there any non-NIN fans who would like to weigh in their opinions?

I just can't get into it. Then again, I'm not a big fan of most of the post-Downward Spiral stuff that NIN has done. A few songs here and there have been good, but I feel like Trent went a little too avant garde after that, and I just can't follow along.

Mad respect to him for the work that he does, though.

Great EP, took a few listens to get into like you said. Really love "dear world". To me it feels like a weird mix of of elements from Downward Spiral, Year Zero and Hesitation Marks.

Just found out today that Dave Grohl is back on drums for it too which i like. His drumming on With Teeth was top.

Really hope we get a full album soon though, I like EPs but they always just leave me wanting more.

I'll say it's a step back towards the era of NIN I enjoyed the most, the Fragile era. Can't say it's quite there though, but it's better than most else he's done for the past 15 years (though I enjoyed a lot of the HTDA stuff). "Burning Bright" probably was my favorite track on there, even though I feel that it may be referencing "The Day The World Went Away" a bit too much. As I said I enjoyed that era, but I don't need the new songs to just retread the exact same ground.

At least made me look forward to what he'll do next, which wasn't quite the feeling I got after With_Teeth, Year Zero or The Slip (I still haven't heard Hesitation Marks).

I did not like it at first but after a few listens to it, it grew on me and now I love it She's Gone Away and The Idea of you are my two favorite on the EP, But Excited for 2 new NIN projects in 2017 also Trent said he is working on something he can't talk about, and Trent Followed Kojima on twitter and Kojima followed Trent so.......

for reference I am a huge NIN fan.

I love The Idea of You. I've wanted a new thrash song alongside Wish and March of the Pigs. As someone who wasn't a big fan of Hesitation Marks the EP is a return to what I enjoyed about NIN. It's nice to know there's new Reznor material to look forward to. The Before the Flood OST was alright, just a few songs were noteworthy. Patriots Day comes out mid-January which means the OST should soon follow. More NIN please and thank you. Between this and RTJ3 being released, it's been a great week for music I like.

Yeah it clicked with me on my second listen and I really dig it. Songs 1,2,4, and 5 are quite high. Song 3 is ok but definitely the runt of the litter, so to speak.

The lyrics of Branches/Bones, Dear World, The Idea of You, and Burning Bright (Field on Fire) are really fucking solid. To anyone thinking of checking it out, make sure you listen with good headphones or a badass stereo system. There's a lot of layers going on that get lost on a basic stereo setup.

Additionally, it looks like he's gonna rerelease the major albums in high def LP format. This is sincerely one of the few bright spots of 2016 for me.

i'm weird in that i've quite liked most of the latter NIN stuff and Year Zero is probably my favorite of theirs (Downward Spiral and The Fragile are great but reek a little of overblown angst for my taste). will be checking this out.

Welp, now I know a new NIN album is out, lol

I'm one of those people that likes when a musical artist / band experiments, changes, or evolves, because my taste-range is so wide that I can judge something on its own. That basically means I've never stopped being a fan of NIN. Pretty glad I have something new some my car rides this week :)

Edit: Hah, it's only like 21 minutes long. Oh well, it's a good couple days worth of listens in my too-long car rides :)