The Trilogy
The albums Not The Actual Events, Add Violence and Bad Witch form a trilogy of related albums, respectively released in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The tours I Can't Seem To Wake Up 2017 and Cold And Black And Infinite Tour took place to support it. This period marks the inclusion of Atticus Ross as a an official member of NIN, as well as a member of the live band during the tours.
Tracklist
Not The Actual Events
- "Branches/Bones" – 1:46
- "Dear World," – 4:06
- "She's Gone Away" – 6:00
- "The Idea Of You" – 3:27
- "Burning Bright (Field On Fire)" – 5:50
Add Violence
- "Less Than" – 3:30
- "The Lovers" – 4:09
- "This Isn't The Place" – 4:44
- "Not Anymore" – 3:06
- "The Background World" – 11:44
Bad Witch
- "Shit Mirror" – 3:06
- "Ahead Of Ourselves" – 3:30
- "Play The Goddamned Part" – 4:51
- "God Break Down The Door" – 4:14
- "I'm Not From This World" – 6:41
- "Over And Out" – 7:49
Concept
About
Themes
Links to other NIN material
The Downward Spiral
Side B of the Not The Actual Events vinyl features 3 additional, unlisted tracks from The Downward Spiral in reverse: "Hurt", "The Downward Spiral" and "Reptile".
In the physical component for Not The Actual Events, the song 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".
Additional lyrics are printed on the physical component of Add Violence, and they seem to reference "March Of The Pigs" by using the line "doesn't it make you feel better".
With Teeth (Bleedthrough)
Lyrics from the track "The Background World" feature a reference to the Bleedthrough concept, in the line "Is always bleeding through".
Additional lyrics printed on the physical component of Add Violence feature the word "godlike", possibly referecing "The Life You Didn't Lead".
Year Zero
Add Violence is in part a continuation of the Year Zero story and its ARG, with elements appearing on the front cover and the back cover of the album, in the music video for "This Isn't The Place", and on the physical component.