New Nine Inch Nails Album on the Way

With all the awards and nominations Trent Reznor has been receiving for his soundtrack work on both ‘The Social Network’ and ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,’ it was beginning to look like the industrial-rock king had found an entire new career. But get your heads out of those holes, Nine Inch Nails fans — Reznor now says he will devote 2012 to writing a new NIN album.

In a new interview with Billboard, Reznor insists that the time is right to pen new material for what would be NIN’s first album since 2008′s ‘The Slip.’ “My voice as a songwriter feels like it needs to speak up or at least work out a little bit to not atrophy,” he explains. “I think I have something to say that feels unique to who I am right now, and that’s when it tells me it’s time to do something.”

He adds that he thought about recording a new disc under a different name than Nine Inch Nails, but in the end decided to keep the NIN monicker alive. “At the moment it’s going to live in the Nine Inch Nails column, for a few reasons,” he remarks. “I enjoy the challenge of moving that kind of brand forward, that identity, shaping it to who I am now instead of who I was a few years ago when I last left off.”

That said, the immediate future will see Reznor donning his soundtrack hat, as he attends the Golden Globes on Sunday. He and his writing partner Atticus Ross are nominated for Best Original Score for their work on ‘Dragon Tattoo.’