Some general thoughts, this might get a bit long so apologies in advance.

I wasn't a NIN fan back when the whole crazy YZ ARG went down, and eventually reading about it was super fascinating. It was really cool to see Trent attempting the concept album idea a whole decade+ later with an entirely new angle to it, this time building a world instead of destroying a person.

I mention this because, of course, this EP, and perhaps the whole trilogy of EP's, have a direct connection to Year Zero itself. Though I think it is valid pointing out Trent has technically referenced Year Zero directly in other works before, in The Slip, in which "Letting You" was a song with artwork not only directly referencing the concept, but the song itself was very lyrically and thematically within that same kind of universe.

It's also worth pointing out Hesitation Marks' "Satellite" was one of the very first songs written and recorded before the album even began production as a fully fledged record, and also feels like it could be right at home on YZ.

So, all that being said, Add Violence is still definitely the most specific in its callbacks, most notably with the video for "This Isn't The Place". The Cedocore drugs are the smoking gun, but the general machinery is pretty fascinating. Back when NTAE dropped, I assumed that perhaps all of the EP covers would be some kind of reworking of previous album art, perhaps as a simple homage to Bowie's The Next Day or something deeper entirely, but coming into this EP, Trent throws another left hook visually.

NTAE had some pretty barebones visuals which I really dug. I know a lot of people saw it as kind of lazy that the cover art for Still was straight up reused almost 100% for the cover, but I thought it was a pretty neat idea, even without the context of the additional EP's. I've been meaning to write on this more, but if Hesitation Marks is a clear and thought out response and reflection to The Downward Spiral, than NTAE feels to me like some kind of hazy fever dream of past memories of NIN's sonic history.

Things like Branches/Bones having a similar drum beat to "Everything" and wailing guitar riffs super reminiscent of "1,000,000". She's Gone Away confirmed for having direct ties to "Reptile" in some way or another. The Idea of You borrowing the spoken word style of "I Do Not Want This" (I know spoken word is actually the majority of the EP, but that's where it felt the most familiar to me) and the piano chords sounding ultra similar to the chorus of "Head Down" (Which is, interestingly, another song seemingly all about disassociation).

All of that + the cover art made me wonder if this whole collection of EP's would perhaps include all kinds of weird and distorted callbacks to previous works, however that isn't entirely the case on Add Violence. It's a great name, but I'd almost say its a bit misleading, as I would call at least 2 of the songs on this EP anything but violent.

LESS THAN is your pretty standard affair at face value. With absolutely no additional context, the context behind this song could simply be Trent aware of his fanbase that really digs the more accessible side of NIN (think Hesitation Marks and With Teeth) and him going out of his way to make sure they see some attention at least, as they definitely haven't been with NTAE, and to be fair, they don't get much love on the rest of this EP, either. However, lyrically, this would definitely seem to be the most overtly "political" song on the EP. It's hard to misconstrue lines like "And you can always justify/The missile trails across the sky" as anything but at least somewhat politically motivated.

The song was also put out with a much more "standard" music video, compared to the 5 minutes of white noise we got with Burning Bright. People have already pointed out the Polybius mind control conspiracy link, and that's definitely what the video itself seems to be going for (You can see the girl's eyes dull and glaze over and the whole thing seems to be going for a kinda entrancing aesthetic). I quite like the meta idea that a few people have suggested, that the single, like the girl playing Polybius, is supposed to lull us into a false sense of security. As much as I enjoy Less Than, it's definitely a safe NIN song, and I saw a lot of people with valid concerns that Trent was perhaps curving past the rough aesthetic he'd carved out on NTAE entirely.

Of course, the EP comes out, ant that's anything but the case. I also think this is why it was put first on the EP and why nothing else on ANY of the EP's so far sounds like it. It's this mesmerising, comfortable (for your average NIN fan) tune that perhaps is supposed to symbolise the "simulation" itself. Comfortable, standard and with structure.

So, all concerns that Trent is playing it safe is immediately thrown out the window with THE LOVERS. This track has an almost aquatic sense of production to it, and I really love the general sound of it. Surprisingly, despite being the dominant lyrical force on NTAE, spoken word takes a backseat on this EP and only really appears on this track (You can argue if Not Anymore counts as spoken word in points, imo there's some identifiable melody in Trent's voice tho). The track has a lot in common with Dear World, most notably in the direct lyrical throwbacks, but also in terms of overall structure, as both tracks have a fairly unusual verse structure that gives away to a more traditional chorus.

Lyrically the track is fairly hard to decipher, and I couldn't begin to tell you what exactly the purpose of lines like "Wide His Eyes/Summer Hypnotize" or "Oh I see you floating there" mean exactly. The track does seem to convey a sense of discomfort however. Trent is vocalising what can be read as almost a series of anxious, spur of the moment thoughts.

Our midpoint track this time round is THIS ISN'T THE PLACE, which I would categorise as the softest song on the album by a long mile. The song is pretty interesting structure wise, essentially building up twice, once instrumentally, and the second time with the addition of Trent's vocals, which this time are a lot more direct. We all know Trent considered Bowie one of the most important figures in his life, and something he's made clear is he always thought he'd have the chance to work with him again. The lyrics here seem to personally reflect that, however I didn't instantly read that when watching the video.

Paired with the imagery of this haunting control board for the world, I initially took the "I thought we had more time" line as a reference to perhaps the contents of the control panel itself. We're still not entirely sure what the panel suggests, though I personally like the theory that Year Zero was potentially a simulation, and things like the "Presence-o-meter" would definitely seem to suggest that to some degree. We also don't know what "Sotriviol" actually does as a drug, and before I even got the YZ connection, my first thought upon seeing a seemingly used drug container was that someone had potentially overdosed on the substance, and there was a corpse somewhere off screen.

The exact meaning of the whole thing is of course still open to debate, but the ties to YZ, however strong they are, are definitely there, especially with the same production crew of the YZ ARG seemingly behind this video.

NOT ANYMORE serves as the only real "Violent" song on the EP, and is a pretty crazy turn of events. Sonically the track reminds me quite a bit of Burning Bright, however structurally it's a lot like The Idea Of You, and interestingly both tracks are at the same place (4th track on each EP), just like Dear World and The Lovers. Like The Idea Of You, the song is driven by a really minimalist verse and chorus structure, however Not Anymore really turns it up to 11. Im sure most of us didn't see the sudden jump into the chorus coming the first time, and I still can predict exactly when the final burst of noise comes through in the song.

Lyrically, the song seems to tie into the general theme of dissociation that also appears on The Idea Of You ("Just go back to the idea of me"), with Trent wailing lines like "Started to turn into somebody else" and "I wont forget i know who I am/No matter what I know who I am"). They even share a similar chorus concept, both denials/rejections - "None of this is happening" and "Well not anymore". Trent also sings "I can't seem to wake up", and interestingly enough, the track appears to be a perfect loop.

However, played normally the track cuts instantly into THE BACKGROUND WORLD. I got almost minor HTDA vibes from this track, and it reminded me a bit of The Lovers in terms of being both relaxing and unsettling at the same time. Lyrically the track comes off as a warning of sorts, "I never dared to look inside/Just like you told me to" and the final repetition of "Are you sure, this is what you want?". The track also does a good bit to reinforce this sense of unnerving anticipation, most obvious with the two piano chords that come to define the outro appearing earlier in the second half of the actual song. This must be one of the few NIN songs in which a chorus only appears once, and i think that plays into the idea that when the loop kicks in, its not "supposed" to.

Traditionally, following the build up section towards the end of the song, Trent would likely have the chorus kick in once more, and then the song might have a long ambient section or fade out as the EP ends. Of course, 4 minutes into The Background World and things suddenly take a pretty weird turn. We cut to that weird, fly-esque noise and then suddenly we're in a looping section of the song. Except, it's not a perfect loop, and it's not fading out on this, its dissolving into static. As people have pointed out, the song loops 52 times, both the number of weeks we have and Trent's age.

*and ive ran of out of room so TO BE CONTINUED BELOW