And so we roll into December, and come right up to date with Nine Inch Nails' body of work over the last three decades with last year's Bad Witch. This one effectively concludes an EP trilogy that began with Not The Actual Events and continued with Add Violence, with the slight twist that Bad Witch was described as an album rather than an EP. I'm sure you could probably argue the validity of that statement – at six tracks it's certainly not up there with the vast opus of The Fragile for length, and only runs a few minutes longer than its predecessor in Add Violence.

Anyway, let's not get bogged down in semantics. I expect this review will be somewhat rose-tinted as this album was released the very same day I finally got to see NIN live at the Southbank Centre as part of Robert Smith's Meltdown festival, so this album will always be associated with a very excited train ride to London and what is well up there with the best gigs I've ever seen. It was a real pleasure to see the band in such an intimate venue, with just a couple of thousand fellow attendees, and the tracks they played off this new album were a real highlight of the night.

Bad Witch kicks off in extremely energetic fashion, with the spiky guitar riffs and clap-along background beats of Sh*t Mirror proving an effective opening salvo. It sets the pace for the first two-thirds of the piece, and if anyone has a clue what Trent Reznor whispers in the middle of the song I'd be grateful if you could let me know – I've never been able to figure it out. Ahead of Ourselves remains a favourite of the band's recent output, and feels like a hark back to the band's earlier, more aggressive days with a driving techno-style beat to push it along, as well as some great percussion work.

Play The Goddamned Part, for what it lacks in lyrics, adds plenty of ambience with lots of fascinating layers, before we come to the first track that was released off the album, God Break Down The Door. This one certainly divided opinion upon its official release, with many comparing it to the latter work of David Bowie (not sure how that can be a bad thing?) and that it didn't feel like classic Nine Inch Nails. I suppose it doesn't, being far more electronic and leaning heavily on saxophone, but since when did this band ever settle for one thing and stagnate? That's exactly what has made the band so relevant over three decades when many of their counterparts – and even many that came after them – have long since faded to obscurity.

The last couple of tracks find the band in much more reflective mood, with I'm Not From This World evoking a mood and sentiment that has often existed in Reznor's music. It has a definite SF-nal feel to it, with dark atmospherics pushing us through to the finale track in Over and Out. This is a gentle, lilting sort of offering, again infused with a splash of saxophone, that takes up the last eight minutes of the album.

To expand a little on that track, both the title and the feel of this one left me wondering if I'd heard the last of Nine Inch Nails. It's certainly been all quiet on that front through 2019, so who knows? It certainly wouldn't be unusual for the band to take a good, long hiatus, and there's plenty of very exciting soundtrack to keep Messrs Reznor and Ross busy right now. But if this is it, then it's a fine, strong note that demonstrates a band even now not willing to stay still, to continue moving and to experiment with new sounds.

Then again, by the time this gets published there could be another album released – Nine Inch Nails certainly likes to keep you guessing...

I've got the unenviable task of trying to wrap up the series next, so look out for our series conclusion soon!

Our penultimate stop on the Nine Inch Nails at 30 project brings us to 2017, and the Add Violence EP. This one is a follow-up – a musical sequel, if you would – to Not The Actual Events. That in itself is an interesting concept, and something that feels a perfect fit for a band that have rarely done things the traditional way. I'd also argue that this is a project that really does lead on from and advance the concepts laid out in its predecessor. Last time around we discussed the concept that ran through NTAE of people being 'asleep' and needing to wake up and see the world as it is, and that also exists in the majority of the tracks here.

Less Than is an extremely lively opener, with an intense electronic beat accompanied with driving guitars for a wonderfully sing-along lead-in to the album. In a sense it feels slightly out of place with the other material here, harking back in particular to the With Teeth album for me. Track two, The Lovers, leans far more heavily into the electronic elements but offers something a little softer and reflective, and is a fine showcase for the gentler singing style of Trent Reznor.

One of my favourites of this album is the third track, This Isn't The Place, which follows a continued thread of moving away from heavy guitar, once again taking on a bassy, electronic feel. This is a track that personally packs quite an emotional punch, and although it's not the most complex track NIN have ever laid down, it still delivers plenty.

Not Anymore is our penultimate song, and is one that has never really stood out that much to me – there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it doesn't feel as strong as the rest of the record and uses the theme of the piece in a slightly heavy-handed way. That's despite being one of the heaviest tracks here to boot.

The final track is one that fascinates me, and one of the songs that I most often come back to in the recent NIN catalogue. The Background World runs for nearly 12 minutes – in fact it takes up almost half the runtime of the EP – and starts with another great electronic beat, before the guitar elements begin to leak into the piece. However almost eight minutes of the track are a sort of loop, with a final riff being played out more than 50 times with increasing degrees of degradation and sound distortion as we come towards the end of the track. You could take that many ways from the artistic interpretation angle, but it still remains a fresh listen somehow, and I can never bring myself to stop the song before the full runtime is achieved. I don't know if catchiness alone can achieve that, so it is a closing salvo to this EP that gives me plenty of pause for thought.

Add Violence feels like another very exploratory piece from NIN, and certain is a suitable second part to the EP trilogy in terms of sound and themes. Personally I prefer this one to Not The Actual Events – there are just more standout songs here, with the great first shot across the bow of Less Than, the downbeat electronic of This Isn't The Place and the strange but hypnotic construction of The Background World.

Next time around will bring us right up to date with a look at the 2018 EP Bad Witch, before we take a look back at the project and the whole output of NIN in our conclusion...