Nine Inch Noize : Nine Inch Noize

Reinvention is a tricky thing to get right. You have to balance it equally with what came before while still moving and evolving forward. People want their favorite artists and bands to change…but not too much. Hardcore fans aren’t easy to please. In fact, they can be their favorite bands own worst enemy. Enter Nine Inch Noize.

Nine Inch Noize is the collaboration between Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Trent Reznor’s wife and singer Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, as well as German producer and DJ Boyz Noize. Together Nine Inch Noize pretty much stole the show at Coachella, playing a set of Nine Inch Nails, How To Destroy Angels, as well as covering Soft Cell’s “Memorabilia”. Between the creepy dancers in tights and makeup, the outstanding light show, and the sparse setup which included just Atticus Ross and Boys Noize running the electronics, and Reznor and his wife singing, it was almost like performance art at it’s highest.

Well thankfully they recorded the set and have released it digitally for all to hear(and for those that couldn’t travel to California for Coachella.) This is the perfect reimagining; both super tight remixes of songs we’ve loved for decades, as well as capturing the stark, angular beauty of NINs early years as an electronic/industrial juggernaut, redefining alternative rock in the 90s.

Every track here is relevant. There’s an urgency throughout these songs, and you can feel a poignant, surging energy from start to finish. My favorite tracks are the ones that come from Year Zero, an album that I feel most represents the spirit of this project. “Vessel” still has its claustrophobic spirit to it. A percussive spirit that sounds like machines breathing, but now with this futuristic sheen to it. “Me, I’m Not” comes across like some chromed-out future predator searching for prey in some dystopian wasteland. And “The Warning” still has The Bomb Squad’s influence all over it, but with a touch of Gary Numan thrown in for good measure.

There’s not a single moment that doesn’t deserve to be here. Reimagining tracks like “Closer”, “Copy of a”, and “Came Back Haunted” all enhance the spirit while giving us something new. We even get a great club remix of How To Destroy Angels’ “Parasite”. And their cover of Soft Cell’s “Memorabilia” feels right at home here, capturing the band’s ahead of its time spirit while adding layers of grime.

Nine Inch Noize is a stunning remix/reimagining of songs we’ve loved for decades. It’s Nine Inch Nails staying in their lane, while simultaneously moving the lanes to new sonic places.