NINE INCH NAILS AT 30: ​ADD VIOLENCE BY ALEX DAVIS

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...