It was some 5 long years between 1994's "The Downward Spiral" and NIN's 1999 release "The Fragile". It would be another five years between that and the next release, 2005's "With Teeth". You either got used to the time it used to take Trent Reznor to release new music, or you got tired of waiting and lost interest altogether.
Reznor seems eager to redress that situation now. After delivering the remix album of 2007's excellent "Year Zero" to former label Interscope, Trent and NIN were effectively free and clear from the limitations and expectations of the record company. This year has seen a flurry of activity for Nine Inch Nails, as Reznor released the "Ghosts I-IV" album, a largely ambient, instrumental collection of tracks, and now two songs from a forthcoming album, "Discipline" (also a free download from NIN.com) and this song, "Echoplex".
These songs seem to find NIN coming around full circle back to the danceable, Joy Division-esque sound of "Pretty Hate Machine", minus the noise and much of the industrial flourishes. Stay tuned--there is to be either an announcement or release from Reznor and the guys on May 5th.
My Trusted MOGs
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My Trusted MOGs
Thanks for posting this! It's definitely an exciting time to be a NIN fan. To be honest, Discipline and Echoplex don't do much for me, but I'm still looking forward to May 5th that's for sure.