It wasn’t that long ago that the legendary industrial rock “band” Nine Inch Nails announced a surprise release for a new EP called Not The Actual Event. People that decided to purchase the music noticed that you were jot buying a CD, Tape, Vinyl, flash drive, or anything else normal, but a confusingly named “Physical Component”. Here it is, a few months later and I received my package. Upon opening the shipping pack, a heavy black envelope fell out. It became very obvious that I was in for some kind of treat when this is the first thing I saw:

I sat there for a while wondering what it could be and how I should handle it. Assuming I was about to get glitter-bombed or something, I opened the package to find a stack of heavy printed cards, and a transparency sheet all smeared with black toner powder. I can only assume that this is the beginning of some sort of ARG, or alternate reality game, and am excited to see where this goes. Trent Reznor is no stranger to ARG projects as he did one about a decade ago for another album, Year Zero. Even if I can’t figure out any hidden messages, these prints are still very cool to have!

In case you are a fan of NIN and have yet to hear the new album, here is a sample.