Ahead of their ninth LP Bad Witch, Nine Inch Nails released their new song “God Break Down the Door.” The song is hypnotizingly frenetic, the pulsating drums and moaning saxophone and brass instruments almost treating  Trent Reznor‘s trills as a haunting aftereffect.

According to Reznor, the single was actually more of an effort to improve his saxophone technique after being rusty for so many years. “Looking around the studio and seeing the untouched baritone tenor and alto sax that are sitting there … they’re there because they remind me that I can’t play them as well as I used to be able to,” he said. This led to Reznor playing around and experimenting in a session that motivated him to try new things. He said, “The space changed and then we felt motivated. When it came time to sing I was really just trying things out, just to see. I never had the courage to sing like that, I didn’t know I could sing.”

The alt-rock band Jesus and Mary Chain, will open Nine Inch Nails’ upcoming “Cold and Black and Infinite” North American tour, beginning September 13th in Phoenix, Arizona. In an interesting turn of events, Reznor said the first real tour his group played as Nine Inch Nails was opening for Jesus and Mary Chain, leading to a lifelong relationship  of love and respect between the two groups.

Bad Witch, which is the final installment of a trilogy, following 2016’s Not the Actual Events and 2017’s Add Violence – will be out June 22nd.

Check out the song “God Break Down the Door” below.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat