Year in Rock 2013 Nominee: Nine Inch Nails

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NINE INCH NAILS
All Time Low
From: Hesitation Marks
Released: September 3

Trent Reznor will never return to the so-called "glory days" of the 90's, when his anger, anguish and addictions manifested in ultraviolent bursts of noise Broken and The Downward Spiral. Many scoff at the work he's done since, say, 1999's The Fragile as "soft" and/or "weak". It's also called "sober" and "content with life". We didn't need another Spiral; I'm sure Reznor doesn't intend on going back to those dark places anytime soon. What we got in 2013 was a focused, consistently listenable and oft adventurous NIN album with any amount of potential single choices. Whether it gets my personal Album of the Year reward remains to be seen, but I'll go ahead right now and crown Hesitation Marks pop album of the year. Yes, I'll classify it as such due to its general lack of guitars and overabundance of catchiness. And if catchy=shit, then allow me to go shoulder deep into the septic awesomeness that is Hesitation Marks.


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