The obvious implication of the "ninetynine" campaign is that we will be seeing the new album in 1999, presumably in the first quarter of the year. Early rumors suggested spring '99, but now Trent is saying June. Of course, Trent has also mis-labeled Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter of 1998 as supposed release dates of the past, so until official word is handed down from the record company, it's really anyone's guess. The album's first single could be on radio stations very soon, and if NiN keeps with tradition, a CD single will probably be released prior to the new album. Thus, it is presumptious to label the new album as "halo 13," as both of NiN's previous full-length albums were preceded by halo-numbered singles (Down In it, halo one, came before Pretty Hate Machine, which was halo two. March of the Pigs, halo seven, came before The Downward Spiral, which was halo eight).

Even without a full-length album, the last four years have still been rich with new Nine Inch Nails material, explaining at least in part the long delay of the new album. NiN released the TDS remix EP Further Down The Spiral in 1995, and '96 brought us the Reznor-produced Lost Highway soundtrack, which contained NiN's The Perfect Drug (later released on its remix EP). 1997 brought Closure, the long-awaited NiN video set. Trent Reznor also completed a number of side projects during all this, including producing albums for Marilyn Manson and Rob Halford, remixing songs for artists such as 12 Rounds and Puff Daddy, collaborating on a single and music video with David Bowie, lending back-up vocals to Josh Wink, signing a number of new artists to his Nothing Records label, and creating the eerie ambient soundtrack to the hit computer game "Quake."

But besides having smaller projects to work on, other factors have also contributed to the delay of the new album. Much of the challenge seemed to involve Trent putting "closure" on the "first phase" of Nine Inch Nails -- the Nine Inch Nails we know -- and re-evaluating where he wanted NiN to go. In 1997 he said of creating the new album, "It's just been really assessing the whole what-I-want-to-do-with-Nine Inch Nails. I've dedicated a lot of energy into Nothing Records and I've always felt like if I didn't have anything to say, I don't want to say it. And the new record... I've spent a lot of time really assessing musically the way you approach it." One of Trent's first approaches, which ultimately failed, was to try a more traditional way of writing songs, focusing on melody. Following a suggestion made by co-producer Rick Rubin, Trent holed himself up in a cliffside beach house in Big Sur, California for several months. Alone with his dogs and a piano, the idea was that Trent would be able to focus on writing music the old-fashioned way, at a piano instead of a drum machine, without any distractions. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out that way. "Going up to Big Sur was interesting and disastrous at the same time," Trent told Raygun in 1998, "being totally alone on the side of a mountain an hour away from the nearest grocery store with just your dogs and a violent, loud ocean. And it turned into that crashing rocks isolation chamber which started to drive me insane... I realized I needed to be around more people. So I came out of that, then we started about a year ago, and I approached things a bit differently than in the past. It was not planned out. It was open for mutation." Trent also spent time re-evaluating himself after the extensive tours for The Downward Spiral. After being literally thrown into the world of super-stardom, fame took its toll on Trent's personality. "I realized I was an asshole," Trent said in a 1997 interview. "I was shitty to people, shitty to old friends and new people I met. ... So at one point I sat back and looked at myself and went: 'You're a fucking asshole. You've become what you never thought you'd be.'" All of this led to Trent questioning whether or not to even continue with NiN. "I had to rediscover my passion for wanting to make music," he told Alternative Press in 1998. "A lot of the other shit started to take the shine off it -- the celebrity aspect, the constant competitive backbiting. I've seen that with close friends. For a while it just didn't seem as appealing to get back in that arena. Not from an 'I'm afraid to do it' point of view but more from an 'It's not as fun as it used to be' [perspective]. But I think I've got my head turned back around."

Another obstacle came for Trent in 1997, when a musician named Mark Nicholas Onofrio sued Reznor for supposedly stealing his songs. Onofrio claimed that major parts of songs such as Burn and Closer, among others, were stolen ideas from demo tapes that Onofrio sent Trent after they met in an internet chatroom. From the beginning, Reznor denied all accusations, never missing an opportunity to unload a slew of obscenities in Onofrio's direction. After several preliminary hearings, the case was thrown out of court by a Los Angeles judge. Unfortunately, it wasn't the end of Trent's legal trouble. In 1998 he sued a woman for illegally accessing his America Online account and using his screen name "MTRez" (which, needless to say, is no longer his screen name).

Having worked through many barriers, both personal and professional, Trent seemed to speed up work on the new album in 1998. Trent has reported having over forty-five tracks of music to work with, even after narrowing it down from a larger selection. Not all of these will end up on the album, of course, but the sheer volume of material will most likely result in the album being a double-CD.

This is one of the most difficult and widely-speculated questions about the new album, largely due to the fact that Trent's descriptions of his new music have been cryptic and confusing, at best. From the beginning, Trent has made it clear that the new album will be very different from "traditional Nine Inch Nails." Though this worries some fans, one must consider the fact that there really is no such thing as "traditional Nine Inch Nails." The synth-heavy electronic sound of Pretty Hate Machine is radically different than the heavy guitars of Broken, while The Downward Spiral melds both styles together for a sound all its own. Thus, it could be said that each NiN album is very different than that which came before it. Still, Trent has at times seemed determined to convince us that his latest release will not only differ greatly, but will in fact be a turn-off to many of his fans. In 1997, at what seemed to be the height of his cynicism towards the album, Trent said, "The record will -- I guarantee it will piss everybody off. Yeah, no one will like it and it will be ridiculous. And if it wasn't then I wouldn't do it." What this means is anyone's guess, but since that interview Trent's "everyone will hate it" comments have toned down a bit, perhaps suggesting that it won't be so bad after all.

Sonically, Trent has compared his new album to just about everything. In an early interview he said it would be more "funk hip-hop," which scared a few weary fans. This was supported by Trent's growing interest in hip hop acts such as Erykah Badu and the Fugees, and his collaborations with Puff Daddy and Ice Cube. "I think the whole industrial distorted thing is dead," Trent told CMJ in 1997. "I'm bored with it. All I listen to now is hip-hop." But as time passed Trent's attitude towards the album's sound seemed to become less focused, drawing comparisons from all across the musical spectrum. David Bowie, Tom Petty, Prince, and Tom Waits were just a few of the names mentioned. Perhaps the strangest and most talked-about description Trent gave of the new album was in late 1997: "Think of the most ridiculous music you could ever imagine... with nursery rhymes over the top of it." Another interesting description: "The new record is focused on taking an element of rhythm 'n' blues and funk - in the Prince sense, not the Red Hot Chili Peppers sense - and juxtaposong it radically with an Aphex Twin-ish approach. It has the feel of something you might understand, but the sound of a stereo exploding. With a nice melodic song on top." From descriptions and comparisons so bizarre and varied, one might conclude that Reznor is either purposely confusing his fans, or creating something so unlike anything he or anyone else has ever done that he can't really give it an accurate description.

Still, Trent's faith in his music seems to be at an all-time high. "I know it's the best stuff I've ever done," he told Raygun magazine in 1998. "I don't know how fashionable the record will be, but it's really exciting to me right now." He went on to describe the album: "It's a lot slower. And sparser. And that doesn't mean happier or full of ballads, because it certainly isn't that. But there's a lot of organic instruments, there's a lot of...my guitar playing came into it's own doing this. There's a lot of real instruments, like strings and stuff we experimented with. Its not a cold sounding record necessarily."

Indeed, we'll hear a lot of new sounds for Nine Inch Nails. Cello, lap steel, mandolin, and even a ukulele in a kitchen sink are reportedly just some of the instruments being recorded with (not that this is terribly unusual from a band that's made music with dog barks and car doors slamming), many of which come from the impressive gathering of guest performers contributing to the album (listed near top of page). Besides them, NiN bandmembers Charlie Clouser and Danny Lohner will have a large role in the creative process than before. "Trent is charting the course and has a clear vision of how he wants things to sound," Clouser said in a 1998 interview. "But Danny and I have been able to contribute a fair amount, and some of the songs we're working on have grown out of sesions with all of us fiddling around in the studio."

All in all, expect something very different from this album. "It doesn't look to me like a singles-oriented hit pop top of the charts type album," Trent said. "I assume we aren't going to have super-heavy MTV rotation... I just want to make a record where someone says that's a fucking good record... If I fail, I fail with a good conscience. Of course, I'll probably be singing a different tune if my record falls off the charts in the second week." Of course, don't take his words too heavily. Trent had almost exactly the same "this-won't-sell" sentiments about his now multi-platinum album The Downward Spiral. Chances are, however unusual his new music turns out to be, it will be amazing, and embraced with open arms.