New NIN Music Video Features Video Game Polybus

NIN's new music video is set to the recently-released videogame based on an urban legend, Polybus:

For more on the legend of Polybus, see this video by The Gaming Historian:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/07/trent-reznors-cold-call-led-to-an-awesome-game-filled-nine-inch-nails-video/

Am I alone in thinking the song (especially the lyrics) is about as cringey as NIN has been to date?

Reznor's most exciting era of creativity is long gone now....

somebody get this guy some heroin

I had no idea Llamasoft was working on a Polybius game, that's great

  On 7/13/2017 at 11:27 PM, span said:

I had no idea Llamasoft was working on a Polybius game, that's great

Already out for PS4/PSVR, PC version to come in November after Sony exclusivity ends.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  On 7/13/2017 at 11:09 PM, juiceciuj said:

somebody get this guy some heroin

only scenario where he's interesting musically tbh

  On 7/13/2017 at 10:46 PM, Joyrex said:

Am I alone in thinking the song (especially the lyrics) is about as cringey as NIN has been to date?

no, you'r not 

I didn't mind the song. It's a bit NIN by numbers but it's an alright pop song imo. Sounds really lofi though, compared to his usual output..

Maybe it's because we're all not a lot younger? I don't know. It sounds pretty pathetically bad to me. The lyrics remind me of something you would find scrawled under a desk in someone's mother's basement.

But who knows, maybe if I were 12 or 14 it would "speak to me". 

lol reznor's lyrics have always been bad, but yeah like you said we're not 14 anymore

I still hold the fragile in high regard though, always will, that and the downward spiral really shaped the way I think about electronic production

I don't think its that much about age. Sure I think if we were 14 and just discovering nin or a fan since Year Zero or whatever, we'd probably dig this new one more. It's also hard to compare eras. I think since the mid-2000s, the desire for darkness, edginess, danger and shock in music has steadily declined in favor of catchiness, atmosphere, production, texture, retro tropes / kitsch, and just generally intentional safe and well thought out ideas. This mostly applies to the mainstream music culture and much of the major indie stuff. I think we are slipping out of that era though slowly, but there's just not much reward at this point for doing anything that challenges the status quo, because the internet, because technology, because social media and on and on. In fact, i might argue its actually impossible for anyone or anything to break out of that at this point. Memes always win. The world is one giant facebook post that we can't block.

Yes, we're adults now, but there's something inherantly different about the raw energy of March of The Pigs or Mr Self Destruct vs. Less Than or Copy of A. And its beyond just the guitar tones. Of course, Trent is aged and maybe nin is far out of their prime, but all that aside, with the culture of alternative / rock music today (if that even exists) it's like "everything is right in its place"

  On 7/13/2017 at 11:07 PM, Bread said:

Reznor's most exciting era of creativity is long gone now....

not true at all , the last ep not the actual events was really amazing and had some very interesting approaches on sound design and composition.

i also love how he manages to make instant catchy sounds, the only think i´m not a fan of are his strange and cheesy prononciations of the vocals and the boring "concept ideas".

I think for me, his songs are hit and miss - I liked "Everything" on Hesitation Marks, along with "Satellite", but the rest was forgettable. I haven't listened to anything from the previous release other than the previews, so I need to go check that out and see (hear) for myself.

Maybe that's it - Reznor himself is too old for his own band...? Would these lyrics resonate more if sung by some angsty 20-something?

maybe i´m wrong but it reminds be a bit of shoegaze

wat

yeah like A place to bury strangers and stuff like that, heavy guitar fuzz + drumcomputers
 

  On 7/14/2017 at 5:32 PM, Joyrex said:

I think for me, his songs are hit and miss - I liked "Everything" on Hesitation Marks, along with "Satellite", but the rest was forgettable. I haven't listened to anything from the previous release other than the previews, so I need to go check that out and see (hear) for myself.

 

Maybe that's it - Reznor himself is too old for his own band...? Would these lyrics resonate more if sung by some angsty 20-something?

Yeah agreed, and good point about lyrics resonating and age.. Though I always think of Bowie who even in his later years wrote such strong and transcending lyrics. I honestly think it's more about delivery, authenticity, melodic progression, production, arrangement, etc that just makes it so samey and drab.  

All that said, there are still moments of nin gold and nice melodic parts, but I feel like when Trent does this, he holds back, like he literally gives us several seconds of beauty or melodic intrigue and then everything around those few seconds are just cliched post-fragile nin templates.  

Like just listen to:

1:18 - 1:21

and

1:27 - 1:32

Those little spots are actually awesome, but where he takes the chords and grooves aside from those 4 and 5 second spots in the hook just totally fall off. 

  On 7/13/2017 at 11:07 PM, Bread said:

Reznor's most exciting era of creativity is long gone now....

"SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!"