A new Nine Inch Nails album has been right on the periphery of 2016, but never quite touched on by Trent Reznor outside a few comments. There was initially news of a new song being dropped back in August, but that never happened. Then Reznor made a comment alluding to the fact that 2016 was not yet over, and that we'd maybe see an album between then and New Year's Day.
While we're still not sure if we'll see a new album in 2016 or not, Reznor confirms in an interview with Beats 1 that a new album is in the works.
“About several months ago, Atticus and I kind of… We had gone off on our own tangents with different things we were working on. And then we made a commitment for the next several years to work on things together because we have a good rhythm and energy. In the last few months we’ve not only been working on this [‘Before The Flood‘ soundtrack,] we were just finishing the film with Pete Berg [‘Patriots Day] that’s coming out right at the end of this year about the Boston bombing and we’ve been working on Nine Inch Nails stuff.
And that’s been three points of a triangle of different energies. I’m feeling really good, I’m feeling creatively excited and I’ve reminded myself as I’ve veered off into technology for awhile, that the act of writing and self examination that comes from making music really helps me understand who I am again. Things are going good and when we have something that we think is excellent, we will unleash it upon the world.”
So I guess we'll find out soon enough. He makes it sound like a new album has been coming for a while now, so maybe things are wrapping up? We'll see. As Reznor says, 2016 isn't over yet.