Nine Inch Nails: Tron: Ares (2025)

Tron: Ares. Music by Nine Inch Nails (2025)

I realised after making the Hesitation Marks (2013) post that I didn't want any of the really crap Nine Inch Nails releases on my main blog. That meant I didn't write anything about Not The Actual Events (2016), Add Violence (2017), Bad Witch (2018), or Ghosts V + VI (2020), all of which made me sigh for having dared hope they might take NIN back to its former glory.

Tron: Ares' first single, As Alive as You Need Me to Be, had a definite Fragile (1999) / With Teeth (2005) vibe, which gave me hope once again... but the end result was the same. I hoped. I bought. I sighed. [1]

But mostly I'm confused about why it even has the NIN moniker. With just a few exceptions, including As Alive as You Need Me to Be, it resembles a typical Reznor + Ross film score, which for me is something best summed up as lifeless, dull, musical enervation.

Whisky + Black Metal

Font used is Maskdown Font by madhaline studio, slightly modified.

Deep | Mlehst ‎/ Split Tape (1996)

Deep | Mlehst ‎/ Split Tape (1996)

The term 'tape-trading' acquired negative connotations due to the volume of (mostly crap-sounding) bootleg live recordings that made the rounds that way, but it was a perfectly viable method for small or independent labels and/or unsigned bands and artists to distribute demos and limited-run releases to interested parties.

It was through such channels that I bought Split Tape in '96. Only 333 official copies exist, but you can find it from time to time on places like Discogs or eBay.

Both artists play a kind of ambient/electronica with an industrial and experimental vibe. 01. The Deep track(s) in particular are a fine example of a hypnotic exchange given the time to grow from an idea into an all-encompassing mood, occasionally reminiscent of Tribes of Neurot. 02. Mlehst is noisier, less rhythmic, with two bass guitars, a drum machine, loops and samples.

I ripped the cassette to digital files many years ago for use in my mp3 player. You can find a DL link for both below the cut. [1]

Art and Illustration: Bleeding Crane

[TITLE UNKNOWN]

Artist: Unknown | Year: Unknown [1]

DIO: Fan Mag [Metal Hammer] (YEAR UNKNOWN)

DIO: Fan Mag [Metal Hammer]

Mid-May. Early afternoon. There were clouds overhead, scattered and motionless, but it was still hot. The starlings in the rear garden were being dicks, as per usual, shitting on the fence and bullying the smaller birds. The crows sat atop rooftops, deliberating on whether or not the available food was enough to warrant them bullying the starlings, in turn. It wasn't, so they merely watched and waited.

I took refuge indoors and set about the eternal struggle: getting rid of old crap to make way for new crap, specifically books. With courage to the sticking place, I braved the dust and spiders. I unearthed a bunch of Metal music mags from a bygone era. I kept a few things for later perusal (Manowar, King Diamond), but got rid of most of them. Necessity.

The DIO Fan Mag was a pull-out and keep supplement from an issue of monthly UK magazine Metal Hammer that I'd pulled-out and kept. As such, I don't know what issue it was in, but given that the info goes up to Lock Up the Wolves, it must've been around 1990. That's also why page numbers begin at 41 and end at 60. (The 8 missing pages were likely two double-sided posters that lived and died on my wall.)

King Kong Board Game (1976)

King Kong Board Game (1976)

I bought the game from a jumble sale sometime in the 80s. It's not much fun to play, but it's an interesting piece of vintage tat that I'm getting rid of, now preserved for posterity. The copyright info + box art show it to be related to the De Laurentiis Movie (1976–86) directed by John Guillermin. You can find a review of that on my main blog HERE.

Article and Package © Copyright 1976 Ideal Toy Corporation, Hollis, N.Y. 11423

Copyright © 1976 Dino De Laurentis Corporation, All Rights Reserved. 2L-1004.

Mr T

Mr T

I know Mr T from only four things: Clubber Lang in Rocky III (1982); B.A. Baracus in The A-Team TV Series; and as himself in a motivational exercise video and a TV snack bar advert. I've not followed his career, nor am I aware of any scandals or wrongdoings that he may have been involved in (if any such things exist). My respect for Mr T is derived from either the characters he played and/or what they represented. That's what earns him a page all of his own.