Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

Recorded in Los Angeles by Trent Reznor with frequent collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, Hesitation Marks features Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, Eugene Goreshter of Autolux, bass legend Pino Palladino, and NIN regulars Alessandro Cortini, Ilan Rubin and Joshua Eustis.

"Reznor's first NIN album in five years, it is one of his best, combining the textural exploration on the 1999 double CD The Fragile, and the tighter fury of his 1994 master blast, The Downward Spiral," said Rolling Stone's David Fricke in a four-star lead review. "There is blood here: Hesitation Marks refers to the preliminary wounds made during a suicide attempt. There is deliverance, too. You can dance to much of this terror, all the way to the brink and back." The New York Times' Jon Pareles hailed Reznor as a "taboo-smashing songwriter with music that meticulously blends melody and abrasion, ferocity and detail."

SPIN gave Hesitation Marks a 9 out of 10 rating, noting, "this is the most important artistic statement from NIN leader Trent Reznor since the late '90s, when SPIN dubbed him 'the Most Vital Artist in Music Today'…. Through his own twisted K-hole, #ARTPOP icon Reznor is once again one of the most vital artists working today, coming back haunted, breaking the habitual. Let's get physical."

NPR Music's Ann Powers said, "you can feel the musicians' interplay in the grooves...as each element of sound builds upon each other to make the songs sweet, then menacing, then nerve-wracking, then hallucinatory, they're made whole and vividly accessible." Alternative Press gave the album four stars, calling it "remarkably prescient," and Entertainment Weekly observed, "Both Hesitation Marks' lead single, 'Came Back Haunted,' and the propulsive, New Order-nodding 'Everything' rank among Reznor's finest."