Yesterday I took the kids to Hot Topic. As we shopped...okay, the family shopped, I looked at Rick and Morty stuff, I noticed that the song Head Like a Hole was blaring from the speakers. That's fine, I just would have never guessed that nearly 30 years after it's release, I would hear Nine Inch Nails at the Mall. (I know, it's Hot Topic, but still.)
So anyhow, when I got home, I saw a small sponsored link on my Facebook page about the new Nine Inch Nails album. What new album? I'm unclear if I wasn't paying attention, or if there was no attention to be paid. Regardless, as soon as I learned of its existence, I went straight to YouTube for a preview.
After a listen (or 3), I highly recommend that you buy the Bad Witch.
The first song Shit Mirror is an unrelenting single, as good as anything Nine Inch Nails has done in the past 20 years (notice I didn't say 30).
At just over 30 minutes, Bad Witch is a fast listen, yet with nuances and surprises. For example, there's hints of jazz in Play the Goddamn Part. Scrolling through the comments section at YouTube, an astute listener likened the song to Bowie. Not Ziggy-era Bowie mind you, but maybe a reply to Blackstar-era Bowie.
Like always, by the end of the album, I felt like Trent Reznor was speaking specifically to me. A gift few musicians possess in their musical arsenal. And no song captured that feeling better than the last track, Over and Out. I have never heard the sound of time slipping away captured on audio until Trent Reznor was able to do while closing out Bad Witch
After repeated listens, the hardest question I had to answer was splitting hairs between the classification of a good album, and a great album.
Is Bad Witch a great album?
Metal Sucks says... almost.
You, as a listener, thirst for a great album.
Did I crave Bad Witch? Eh...parts of it?
Meanwhile, while writing about Nine Inch Nails....
This weekend, the band Pantera quietly became a footnote in history as co-founder and original drummer Vinnie Paul passed away at the age of 54.
Pantera's album Vulgar Display of Power was a universally acclaimed monument in the history of metal. Pantera was formed in the 80's through the bond of the Abbott Brothers, Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darrell. Despite grinding their way through the decade, the Pantera you know today didn't come to pass until the addition of vocalist Phil Anselmo.
Phil Anselmo's battles with addiction helped tear the band apart and he was dead for 5 minutes after a Pantera Show in 1996. Anselmo is now far, far from the public consciousness promoting his band Phil Anselmo and the Illegals and his new album Choosing Mental Illness. Notice I didn't add any links? That's because the album is very controversial, even by BOS standards.
The story of Dimebag Darrell made national headlines when he was murdered in a small venue in Columbus in 2004. Darell was killed by a troubled schizophrenic who believed that the members of Pantera were stealing his thoughts.
Though diehard fans knew there was no chance of a re-union between the 3 living members after the shooting, with the passing of Vinnie Paul, any faint flicker of hope that Pantera would re-unite also passed. At its heart, Pantera was the Abbott Brothers.