Nine Inch Noize: On the Wild Side of Berlin Raves

 

Known for their collaborations on the soundtracks of Challengers and Tron: Ares. Then came Boys Noize’s tour opening for Trent Reznor. But we had to wait until Coachella to see and hear them together on the same stage: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Alexander Ridha, aka Boys Noize.

Nine Inch Noize. The sum of the legendary industrial rock band and the German DJ who has spent years redefining techno. The result is not just a revitalized NIN, but a powerful injection of Berlin energy that makes this project even more interesting. NIN fully inserted into the world of raves. Pure, top tier cyberpunk.

Vessel opens the album and unleashes generous doses of pure noise. Then comes Reznor’s magic, fractured and reconfigured by Ross and Ridha. A version even more menacing than the original.

Brutal bass lines kick off She’s Gone Away with a volume that could drill holes in your skull. A dangerously obsessive track. For Heresy, Mariqueen Maandig, Reznor’s wife, joins on vocals. The song sounds more powerful than ever, propelled by the precision of the bass lines signed by Ridha. An exoskeleton that Ridha has built to give Reznor’s compositions lethal force.

Acidic bass lines that shake the mind like no one else could. Even Parasite

 from How to Destroy Angels turns into a rave monster pulled from Berlin’s darkest sewers.

Ross and Ridha have pulled Reznor away from the world of guitars and rock. And that’s a blessing. The band’s tracks, infused with electro energy, become ferocious, rabid beasts once again, just like the classic Copy of A. What a brutal piece they’ve recreated.

Nine Inch Noize have indulged themselves by revisiting the exquisite Memorabilia by the legendary Soft Cell, one of my favorite tracks, to recreate it here and add even more darkness and intensity. Almost at the end comes Came Back Haunted, another track that doesn’t escape the EDM treatment and becomes something greater. A bigger monster.

Reznor sounds revitalized, raw, and furious, more than at any point in the past. Nine Inch Noize is a brutally exquisite work.