[[Image:Bad_Witch_Cover.jpg|thumb|200px|Halo 32: ''Bad Witch'']]
''[[Not The Actual Events]]'', ''[[Add Violence]]'' , and ''[[Bad Witch]]'' form a trilogy of related pieces, respectively released in 2016, 2017 , and 2018. The [[NIN 2017-2018]] touring cycle took place to support it. This period marks the inclusion of [[Atticus Ross]] as an official member of [[Nine Inch Nails]], as well as a member of the live band during the tours. This trilogy is sometimes colloquially referred to as the "Cold And Black And Infinite" trilogy.
==Tracklist==
==About==
Coming soon''Not The Actual Events'' was first acknowledged by Trent Reznor on December 17, 2016 in a post on nin.com stating that, "it's an unfriendly, fairly impenetrable record that we needed to make. It's an EP because that ended up being the proper length to tell that story." In June 2017, it was announced that ''Not The Actual Events'' is the first in a trilogy of related EPs to be released 6-8 months apart. ''Add Violence'' was officially announced on July 13, 2017. Its first track, "Less Than", was released digitally on the same day, with an accompanying music video directed by Brook Linder. "This Isn't The Place" was made available on the official NIN YouTube channel on July 18, 2017. ''Bad Witch'', now being classified as an album, was officially announced on May 10, 2018. On May 19, at "The Physical World" ticket presale, an exclusive listening station was made available for those in attendance. It gave fans the opportunity to hear the songs "Ahead Of Ourselves" and "Play The Goddamned Part" before the album's release.
==Themes==
Coming soonIn an interview with ''Entertainment Weekly''[https://ew.com/music/2018/06/20/trent-reznor-bad-witch-interview/], Reznor explained some of the thematic ideas behind the releases: <blockquote>All of these EPs started out with the same question, which is, "Where is my place in the world today?" And I'm asking myself that question as someone who's getting older and looks at a world that feels increasingly unfamiliar. Is that aging? I feel a lot differently about things than I did when I was 20. Thank god. But the way I feel about them isn't as terrifying to me as I thought it would be when I was 20. Your perspective does change. The things that seem to be happening in the world at the moment seem crazier than they ever have today. Is that me saying it because I'm older? Or are things actually f—king up in a very extreme way? Or is it some combination of both?<br><br>I think we're in a f—d up situation where the world is off-axis. Originally, [''Bad Witch''] was going to be an even more extreme version of ''Add Violence''. And what it wound up being was a much more pessimistic [message] where we're not living in a simulation and there's not a convenient external thing we can blame this on — at our core, [humans] are just an accident, and when fully realized we will just exterminate ourselves, and we aren't these enlightened creatures. We're really just animals. And I do feel that way to some degree in real life. Take the promise of technology. Where's that gotten us really? The more connected we are, the worse we are as a society.</blockquote> Blurbs from nin.com for each piece of the trilogy give a vague allusion to the ideas presented: *''Not The Actual Events'': "PART ONE OF A THREE EP TRILOGY OF RECORDS. UNAPOLOGETIC, UNFRIENDLY, DENSE, LYRICALLY COMPLEX, SO-FAR-BEHIND-THE-TIMES-IT’S-AHEAD-OF-ITS-TIME, HIPSTER-REPELLING UNCOMPROMISING MUSIC SMART PEOPLE CAN FUCK TO. IT MAY NOT BE FOR YOU."*''Add Violence'': "PART TWO. THE VIEW WIDENS AND EVERYTHING IS IN QUESTION."*''Bad Witch'': "CONCLUSION. SHADOWS ON THE CAVE WALL." (This is likely a reference to Plato's allegory of the cave.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave])
==Links to other NIN material==
===''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]]''===
Side B of the ''Not The Actual Events'' vinyl features 3 additional, unlisted tracks from ''The Downward Spiral'' in reverse: "[[Hurt (song)|Hurt]]", "[[The Downward Spiral (song)|The Downward Spiral]]" , and "[[Reptile]]".
In the physical component for ''Not The Actual Events'', the lyrics of "She's Gone Away" are superimposed over a copy of page 14 from the Deluxe Edition booklet of ''The Downward Spiral'', and lyrics embedded in the Apple Music release include extra, unsung words directly referencing "Reptile".
It should also be noted that the physical component for ''Add Violence'' has the number "24.0.00" on the front which harkens back to the "24.xx.yy" number patterns used throughout the ARG for ''Year Zero''.
Some of the posters from the [[NIN 2017-2018]] touring cycle had ''Year Zero'' imagery (the [[Art Is Resistance]] flag and [[The Presence]]) incorporated into the artwork.
==Physical Components==
The first two EPs came with "Physical components", optionally purchased items that were something to physically interact with. For ''Not The Actual Events'', a sealed black envelope of artwork and lyric sheets was available, filled with black makeup powder. For ''Add Violence'', a booklet printed in the style of a manual was made, containing artwork, lyrics , and stickers. ''Bad Witch'' did not have a component, but it's speculated by fans that the act of having to physically queue in the US for tickets, for the accompanying tour, was the physical component for this release. This event was officially referred to as the Physical World presale, and each buyer was given a special presentation envelope for their ticket.
==Lyrics==
===Hidden Lyrics===
Coming soonSome songs in the trilogy have additional lyrics hidden in various places. Some are hidden as "stealth" print in the CD/vinyl liner notes, some are printed in the physical components, some are embedded in the digital distribution, and single lines were placed in some MP3 tags.
==Touring==