Yes, You Define

Nine Inch Nails “Parasite (Nine Inch Noize Version)”

Nine Inch Noize is essentially Trent Reznor going back to basics as an electronic/industrial artist, but with the X factor of collaborators he’s picked up along the way – the German producer Boys Noize, his regular partner Atticus Ross, and his wife Mariqueen Maandig. It’s all old songs given a fresh jolt of energy, but the approach varies. “Closer,” “Heresy,” and “Copy Of A” feel different, but the bones of those songs are so strong that the changes amount to a stylish makeover. Others shift more dramatically: “She’s Gone Away” is transformed so much that it feels like an entirely new song, and “Came Back Haunted” has mutated into a full-on dance banger.

The new version of “Parasite” is a revelation. The best elements of the original version from the How to Destroy Angels record are intact – the gently harmonized verse melody, a riff that sounds like it’s played on a chainsaw – but it’s otherwise rebuilt from parts mainly sourced from Boys Noize’s track “Xpress Yourself.” This shifts the genre to dance, but more accurately, it sounds like it should be the soundtrack to a chase sequence in a sci-fi horror movie. It starts out tense, and only gets more frantic once that chainsaw riff comes in, and it’s like suddenly you’re being tailed by a xenomorph and Leatherface. There’s no moment of catharsis or relief, just a burst of adrenaline and an eventual collapse. Maybe you’ve escaped?

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