This live-inspired, remix album, Nine Inch Noize, with electronic producer, Alexander Ridha, better known as Boys Noize, comes on the back of a legendary 30+ year career and two legs of the Peel It Back World Tour that started in June 2025, featuring a collaborative third act of the show, where Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize shared the stage and played songs spanning from the height of Nine Inch Nails’ career during The Downward Spiral years, deep cuts from Reznor’s side project, How To Destroy Angels, and a song from NIN’s most recent release, “As Alive As You Need Me to Be,” from the score of movie Tron: Ares that was released to theaters in late 2025. These songs would go on to be released with nine others on April 17th, a week after a critically acclaimed performance at Coachella. 

The album opens up with the buzz of an excited crowd and an ominous loop of shrouding synths for a little over a minute, abruptly cutting into the sound of a sonic boom that marks the start of “Vessel” from 2007’s Year Zero, a concept album about an authoritarian version of the United States government set in 2022. 

Die-hard Year Zero fans will appreciate the darkness of the first first verse and how the reverb creates a feeling of walls closing in around them. This intensity continues to build until a dance break in place of a bridge that features a brief, tasty interpolation from “My Violent Heart.” This track is easily the stand-out for me as it feels like a perfect reimagination of Year Zero’s lore, all in one song, and it’s in this moment that I realize the two albums share a release date, marking its 19th anniversary with a rebirth of tracks “Me, I’m Not,” and “The Warning.” This certainly feels like a “clue” within the larger story of Year Zero, but I assume that this is not a subliminal message and this album in particular was just ripe material for Ridha’s vision, as it is notably Reznor’s most electronically centered release since 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine. 

Another high note is “Heresy,” featuring vocals from Trent’s wife and How to Destroy Angels bandmate, Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, in place of his falsetto on 1994’s The Downward Spiral. It starts out feeling somewhat mischievous until a cinematic, room-shaking bass drop transitions us to its blasphemous chorus, proclaiming “God is dead and no one cares.” It then continues as an irresistibly aggressive dance track perfect for goth night. 

“She’s Gone Away” takes the shape of a dark trance thanks to the mix of “Girl Crush”(Boys Noize and Rico Nasty) in the verses and the steadily building, hyperpop bass throughout the chorus. I find that days after listening, this is the song that gets stuck in my head the most. 

The adoration of an enamored crowd is a steady element throughout the release, but it misses the mark as a live album when compared to 2002’s And All That Could Have Been. It doesn’t contain the same energy—you could hear the hum of the crowd all throughout the album, and even the echoes of thousands of people singing along at times. The exhaustion of Trent’s voice, and modified lyrics makes it feel like you’re there, no matter where you are. Nine Inch Noize is more comparable to a remix album, which was a staple of Reznor’s early career. Almost every major release had at least one companion of new mixes, but it became less common after the turn of century. However, these songs and their respective tour were so special that it felt like a gift to share a bit of it with everyone, especially the ones like me who couldn’t look past the cost of the last tour. 

“Trent is simply our GOAT artist,” wrote Jane’s Addiction guitarist and long-time Ink Master host, Dave Navarro on Threads days after the Nine Inch Noize performance at weekend one of the 2026 Coachella music festival. Navarro praised him as “always evolving [and] never stale.” 

I, regretfully, was not alive at the time to have the credibility of a lifelong fan who got to see NIN during their golden years, touring for The Downward Spiral and The Fragile, but for the years that I have spent as a fan since discovering Nine Inch Nails as a kid in 2013, I can say this is quite possibly the greatest thing I have had the pleasure of witnessing him do, and it’s a remarkable feat for him to be able to continue re-inventing himself well into his 60’s. 

Nine Inch Nails has seen their fair share of virality through memes and lifestyle content on TikTok and Instagram Reels, surfacing online during the Peel It Back tour, which is sure to pass the torch of Reznor’s legacy to another, much younger generation, and with the Boys Noize collaboration, fans of electronic and house music, have now been introduced to the industrial music legend. Trent Reznor—ever the innovator—has done it again.