Nine Inch Nails will unveil their eighth studio album, 'Hesitation Marks,' on Sept. 3. The hugely anticipated release will be NIN's first record since 'The Slip' was unveiled in 2008, which means mastermind Trent Reznor has got five new years worth of emotion to draw from. However, according to Reznor, 'Hesitation Marks' has been inspired by a much larger window of time.

"I was thinking a lot about 'The Downward Spiral' album era, and the person I was at that time," Reznor tells The Guardian. "'Downward Spiral' felt like I had an unending bottomless pit of rage and self-loathing inside me and I had to somehow challenge something or I'd explode. I thought I could get through by putting everything into my music, standing in front of an audience and screaming emotions at them from my guts ... but after a while it didn't sustain itself, and other things took over – drugs and alcohol."

Reznor continues, "And I'm happy that I don't feel that way any more. I've learned to recognize, a lot of it forced through the process of recovery, that I'm wired wrong in certain ways, the chemical balance of my brain is off in terms of depression a little bit. This record was written as the other side of that journey. The despair and loneliness and rage and isolation and the not-fitting-in aspect that still is in me, but I can express that in a way that feels more appropriate to who I am now. And often that rage is quieter."

The Nine Inch Nails legend also spoke about his recording preferences while creating 'Hesitation Marks.' "What I found the most inspiring was sitting with just a drum machine in my bedroom, in my office," Reznor explains. "Not having a keyboard or a guitar and playing everything on pads. Me sitting alone with literally one piece of gear just messing around, I found it exciting. It lent to the minimal edge, because it didn't feel like it needed more."

To check out the fantastic full interview with Trent Reznor, head over to The Guardian. Having just returned to the stage, Nine Inch Nails are hesitating no more. Get ready for 'Hesitation Marks' to drop on Sept. 3.

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