Wondering what you mean by the last four albums. Are you counting Ghosts?

The Slip definitely seemed like NIN-lite but it seemed liked it was just thrown out there as an incomplete record to me.

With Teeth and Year Zero came out within a year of each other, and while the former was more sparse than I was used to from NIN sonically, I thought Year Zero was great.

My favorite NIN is still The Fragile. A lot people don't seem to like it, but I think there's a lot of ambitious music on there, and I kind of get a prog vibe from it in places. "Just Like You Imagined" in in my top 5 all-time instrumentals.

It sounds like Belew may not be in the touring group any more, which is kind of a drag.

I'm not really counting Ghosts, but you might as well since musically it sounds very similar to the other albums of that period. I'm mainly talking instrumentation and rhythm, but it also lacks the kind of passion earlier releases benefited from. Everything from With Teeth on has just sounded like Trent resting on his laurels. I don't dislike the music, but there are also very few songs on any of those records that I return to.

OK I can see that. I do think tracks like "My Violent Heart" harken back to the old days.

Awesome news. Sad to hear that Belew won't be touring with the band though.

Year Zero is my favorite NIN album.

Interesting, I like Year Zero but it's far down on the list for me. My favorite is The Downward Spiral.

How would you rank them?

Year Zero
Broken
The Downward Spiral
Further Down The Spiral
Fragile
Fixed
Pretty Hate Machine

All the rest.

I would probably rank them:

The Downward Spiral
The Fragile
Pretty Hate Machine
With Teeth
Ghosts I-IV
The Slip
Year Zero

The space between some of those isn't much at all.

I don't consider the remix albums as part of the main discography. I consider Broken an EP but it would fit in somewhere around The Fragile and Pretty Hate Machine. Also I kind of have trouble accepting Ghosts I-IV as an official album (not sure why) but I included it.

Something about Year Zero didn't sit well with me. Granted I haven't listened to Year Zero or The Slip in a few years but I remember preferring The Slip.

It just hit me about how excited I am about this new NIN album. I'm more excited now than I have been about an album release in years. I kind of forgot what it was like to eagerly anticipate a new album.

It's not about the money; it's about the distribution. He had anger about "traditional" label contracts, but this is a different arrangement, on his terms. You can read more about the reasons here; most of the article is applicable to the NIN deal too:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201...oves-diy.shtml

I normally wouldn't include EPs and remixes, but when they're as fantastic as Broken, Fixed, and Further Down The Spiral, I can make an exception.

I heard Capital G on the radio today... I'm pretty sure it's the most terrible thing Trent has ever done...
Other than that, Year Zero is great. My favorite album is definitely The Fragile, though.

Might as well throw my own rankings in...

The Downward Spiral
Pretty Hate Machine
Broken
The Fragile

(these can be in whatever order they like, they all have about a handful of good songs each)

The Slip
With Teeth
Year Zero
Ghosts I-IV

That's actually one of the songs I always stick on a playlist when I'm at the gym. I've always loved the (assumed) Michael Jackson reference with the drum beat.

I agree. It's not that great. I listened to Year Zero again yesterday and I had forgotten how much I actually liked the album. There's some really good stuff on that one.

I never understood the lack of love for "With Teeth". It had great singles and the 3 song medley at the end of the album are epic imo. Ive never seen then live so I can't wait until NIN makes it back to Los Angeles.

I think it's a solid album. There are some clunkers but mostly the songs are pretty great. It's nowhere near as good as the first three but it's a good NIN album and feels like a product of it's time.

New single is released tomorrow!

It's up:
http://pitchfork.com/news/51033-list...-back-haunted/
<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F95453832"></iframe>

It's very Pretty Hate Machine, which may be my least favourite album... but I'm digging this. Digging it like a fox!

New album is called "Hesitation Marks".

Nine Inch Nails 2013 Tour Dates:

07/26 – Niigata Prefecture, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
07/28 – Ansan, KR @ Ansan Valley Festival
08/02 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/09-11 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
08/15 – Kiewit, BE @ Pukkelpop
08/16 – Biddinghuizen, NL @ Lowlands Festival
08/18 – Hockenheim, DE @ Rock ‘n’ Heim
08/21 – Belfast, IE @ Belsonic Festival
08/23 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/24 – Saint-Cloud, FR @ Rock en Seine
08/25 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/28 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum $
08/31-09/01 – Philadelphia, PA @ Made in America
09/28 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center *
09/30 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center *
10/01 – St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz Arena *
10/03 – Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell *
10/04 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre *
10/05 – Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center *
10/07 – Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills *
10/08 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Petersen Events Center *
10/11 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden #
10/14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center #
10/15 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center #
10/18 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center #
10/19 – University Park, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center #
10/22 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena #
10/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena #
10/25-27 – Asheville, NC @ Mountain Oasis Electronic Summit
10/30 – Sunrise, FL @ BB&T Center ^
10/31 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center ^
11/01-03 – New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Experience
11/05 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center *
11/08 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center *
11/09 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center *
11/11 – El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center *
11/13 – Broomfield, CO @ 1st Bank Center *
11/15 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint *
11/16 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint *
11/18 – Portland, OR @ Rose Garden Arena *
11/19 – Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena *
11/21 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena *
11/22 – Seattle, WA @ KeyArena *
11/24 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place ^
11/25 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome ^

$ = w/ Tomahawk
* = w/ Explosions in the Sky
# = w/ Godspeed You! Black Emperor
^ = w/ Support TBA

Listened to the new single and I like it. Cant wait to see them on tour again. Think Im going to have to catch both the NY and NJ shows.

I'd love to see all THREE of those bands open for NIN. Too bad my local dates are "support TBA," but if I had to guess, I'd assume GY!BE is opening those nights... which would be fucking amazing.

The lineup for this festival also lists HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS as playing that weekend.

Here is the website for those in or around the Asheville area interested in going. It is a 4+ hour drive for me, but I'm contemplating taking off for the weekend.

It's too bad they're playing Lollapalooza in Chicago - I'd rather see them on their own. Hopefully there'll be a second leg of the tour.