Nine Inch Nails go retro synth on new track ‘Less Than’

Following their appearance on Twin Peaks a few weeks ago, Nine Inch Nails have announced a new EP titled Add Violence—which will be out next Friday—July 21st! The synth driven track Less Than from the EP, is distinctly retro, as are the accompanying visuals from the video above, where a woman stares into an a computer monitor playing a oldschool space shooter PSX styled version of mythic mind control game Polybius resembling Wipeout 2097— that game that included Fluke’s Atom Bomb on the soundtrack.

It is worth noting that Trent Reznor has always been analog and modular minded—going back towards the days of Pretty Hate Machine, but the latest release “Less Than” has a distinct New Wave and early 80’s feel—like that you find on SPK’s Metal Dance.

As a result of this, we have been graced with what could be considered one of the most catchy Nine Inch Nails tracks in quite a while, and the lyrics are as infectious as a computer virus with Trent Reznor asking:

“Did you fix what was wrong with you? Are you less than?”

NIN.com elaborates on Add Violence, which is the second in a trilogy of EP’s, following Not The Actual Events :

ADD VIOLENCE FINDS NINE INCH NAILS BECOMING MORE ACCESSIBLE AND IMPENETRABLE AT THE SAME TIME. THE SONIC PALETTE EXPANDS SIGNIFICANTLY FROM NOT THE ACTUAL EVENTS, INCORPORATING ELEMENTS OF BEAUTY INTO THE DARK DISSONANCE. THE NARRATIVE ARC LINKING THE THREE RECORDS BEGINS TO EMERGE THROUGH THE DISASSOCIATED LYRICS AND THE PROVOCATIVE AND CLUE-FILLED COVER ARTWORK AND ACCOMPANYING PHYSICAL COMPONENT, AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH THE NIN.COM STORE.

 

ADD VIOLENCE EP:

• 01 LESS THAN
• 02 THE LOVERS
• 03 THIS ISN’T THE PLACE
• 04 NOT ANYMORE
• 05 THE BACKGROUND WORLD