Bad Witch

Bad Witch is the eighth studio album by Nine Inch Nails, released in June 2018 on Nothing/Capitol Records and produced by Reznor and Atticus Ross, a 31-minute six-track release that was the third in a series of EPs (following Not the Actual Events and Add Violence) but was classified as a studio album due to its length, completing a trilogy that represented Reznor's return to shorter-form, more aggressive NIN material after the orchestral film scoring work of the intervening years. Reznor wrote all material; the album's six tracks include 'Ahead of Ourselves,' 'God Break Down the Door' (featuring the most direct David Bowie influence in the NIN catalog), and 'Over and Out,' with a saxophone-forward, free jazz-influenced sonic palette that was entirely different from any previous NIN release. Bad Witch won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, the first Grammy win for the band in the rock category, and reached number six on the Billboard 200. The album stands as the most formally experimental release in the NIN catalog and, at 31 minutes, the most concise studio statement of Reznor's career. Bad Witch's Grammy win for Best Rock Album was the most counterintuitive genre award of the year, a free jazz-influenced, 31-minute album winning in the rock category, and its critical celebration reflects the degree to which Reznor's consistent sonic innovation had earned him an institutional recognition that transcended the genre categories his music had consistently refused to respect.