Much like NTAE, you can pretty much split the tracks into two camps: the ‘rock’ ones, and the ‘synth’ ones, with a little overlap in-between. That’s no bad thing, as he’s pretty much always done that, but these EPs work almost like testing boards, with both sides jostling for position with each other.
Add Violence is not an obviously human piece of work; it's electronic to the point of sensory detachment, and certainly never feels like a flesh-and-blood piece.
Like Reznor's early Nine Inch Nails work, it's a mostly insular affair ... and it's the inherent loneliness that makes Add Violence compelling, especially when contrasted with last year's Not the Actual Events EP
As impactful as many of NIN’s more focused statements have been, Add Violence makes its impact felt with even more authority than its recent predecessors ... On this new collection, the mood is more insinuating and sensual.
Nine Inch Nails’ second EP in a year is as perplexing and immediate as their first. Trent Reznor has lost none of his power to discomfit and intimidate.
Reznor and Ross are master craftsmen of mood and texture, and no one can match Reznor’s skill for translating industrial’s jagged sounds into radio-ready hooks. He has always gone his own way, making for mixed results. Add Violence is a surprising amalgam of what has preceded it in the NIN discography—for better and worse.
Add Violence returns us to the bite-sized pop with-a-dark-side which has been Reznor's bread and butter since 2005, but without the energy of Dave Grohl pounding the drum kit like it said a bad word about Kurt Cobain.
The EP becomes more industrial as it progresses, with vocal hums, instrumental drones and dark ambiences fractured by progressive dissonance and the occasional brutal howl.
Nine Inch Nails follows up last year's Not the Actual Events EP with a moodier and more atmospheric set of tracks, which I don't find to be quite as well-written or exciting.
Nine Inch Nails Discography #14: Add Violence
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The one with accessibility settings turned on
Clearly not as good as Not The Actual Events, and I think that's partially due to a lack of cohesion throughout. Certain elements of Not Anymore, for example, were great, but when put together it left me confused as to what exactly I was supposed to be feeling about the track. Less Than was a great electronic opener, with some fantastic writing, but The Lovers was completely overshadowed by it, and ... read more
Day 0-7 of listening: 83
Add Violence, swallows the sonical flaws seen across Hesitation Marks and Not The Actual Events, a sort of experimentation finally meets result here.
This EP if anything shows how Atticus has affected NIN's soundscape. Admittedly NIN hasnt had the same bite it once had, but the development of sound has progessed ten-fold and it all started right around the time Atticus Ross came on board the NIN vessal.
Hence, the softer moments of Add Violence have never sounded ... read more
A step in the right direction. It has the NIN atmosphere which was lacking from the previous EP.
"Add Violence" starts off awesome, but after that, the EP already runs out of steam. The rest of the tracks are okay, but nothing special.
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"Add Violence" startet stark, jedoch kann die EP danach nicht die Qualität halten und fällt ziemlich ab. Nichtsdestotrotz ist es eine ganz gute EP.
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Tracks ranked:
1. Less Than
2. This Isn't the Place
3. The Lovers
4. The Background Word
5. Not Anymore
Continuing my Nine Inch Nails journey after the gut-wrenching and absolutely beautiful Still, we have the EP Add Violence. Will it top The Fragile or any others as my favorite? Probably not, but let's see how it is!
The EP starts with Less Than, which is one hell of an industrial rock song! It just kept on getting better and better, until well. Man. This is one hell of a song! Tons of great energy, and just man. I had a blast listening to it. It's definitely an amazing start to an ep, ... read more
1 | Less Than 3:30 | 87 |
2 | The Lovers 4:09 | 83 |
3 | This Isn't the Place 4:44 | 87 |
4 | Not Anymore 3:06 | 79 |
5 | The Background World 11:44 | 80 |