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Pretty Hate Machine

By TVT Records for Press Release on October 20, 1989

Nine inch nails (nin) is trent reznor; or rather an artistic platform through which reznor’s myriad of emotions become threateningly palpable rhythms and dark, ominous melodies. Frustration, isolation and passion have all contributed to the conception of nin. Written, arranged, programmed, performed, and co-produced over the last two years, pretty hate machine is a fierce portrait of an artist.

Pretty hate machine is an amalgam of style and sound that stretches the imagination with its use and abuse of the state of the art technology. Combining an enigmatic lyrical style with one of the hardest edged electronic grooves documented on vinyl, reznor subjects the listener to his painful, emotive sincerity.

More than a random arrangement of songs, pretty hate machine is a painstakingly compiled gallery of thematic worlds that lures its audience into the world behind reznor’s eyes. The first single, “down in it”, is purest searing irony set to brutal spine-shifting masterpiece of modern psychosexual angst and unabashed resignation. “Sin” crafts an accessible dance floor assault from a blueprint of rhythmic hooks, a body of synth refrains and a joyously chaotic chorus. “Head like a hole”, perhaps the record’s most powerful selection, features furious, frenetic guitar riffs that amplify and ignite the sheer aggression of reznor’s primal scream…

...nin is not so much about a style of music as it is about attitudes, moods, and modes of expression…

With the recording of pretty hate machine behind him, trent reznor has assembled an entourage of players embodying the range of attitude, musical taste and background necessary to translate this material into a live medium. Chris vrenna (drums), richard patrick (guitar), and nick rushe (keyboards) will comprise trent’s first touring incarnation of nin. Dispelling preconceived notions of artificial, lip-synched electronic performances, nin is the flesh and blood antithesis of their hi-tech contemporaries.

Expect nin to change and mutate over the years, each phase unprecedented by the previous, radically different from the next

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