The cliché tells us that with age, comes calm – that as we drift into a comfortable midlife with a comfortable house and a comfortable family, the angst, frustration and anxiety of youth eases and mellows out.

Trent Reznor is now 48 and has a comfortable midlife, a comfortable house and a comfortable family. His hair cropped tight and looking remarkedly physically astute, he cuts a markedly different figure from the dreadlocked, stick-thin, androgynous Reznor of the ’90s. Lately, since the Oscar win and the How To Destroy Angels dabbling, he looks (whisper it) rather healthy and happy.

But that’s just surface talk. Beneath it all, we know, and he knows, the old rage is still there – it’s just laid dormant until ‘Hesitation Marks’, Nine Inch Nail’s eighth album.

Upon first listen, this is the most accessible Nail’s album yet. The fantastic opener, Copy of A, builds electronic texture upon electronic texture but never edges on abrasive; the beat in Satellites is almost r’n’b; Everything doesn’t verge on pop waters, but throws itself fully in and has a splash about – the major chords and new wave harmonies are almost comical at first, knowing that this is the same artist who created the nihilistic brutality March of the Pigs, Starfuckers Inc and countless others. ‘Hesitation Marks’ is Nail’s pop album. Has Trent gone soft on us?

Of course not – the anger’s still there, it’s just taken on a different form, and a sense of unease starts to reveal itself after a few listens: “Now I’ve got something you have to see/They put something inside of me/The smile is red and its eyes are black/I don’t think I’ll be coming back” he croons, unsettlingly, on Came Back Haunted; Find My Way is sparse and beautiful, but ghostly noises and textures circle and haunt the background, turning the song into something more uncomfortable, something meaner. The funk of All Time Low grooves, but it’s fidgety and strange. There’s a constant sense of something dark, something Other, lurking in the background of this album.

This push and pull between content, surface Reznor and embittered, ego Reznor makes for an extremely compelling listen, but it would all be for nothing if the songs weren’t as strong as they are: The beats are consistently snappy and bouncy; the production is crisp; the lyrics are as honest and unforgiving as ever, sometimes even brimming with a refreshing positivity (the stunning outro of All Time Low); Reznor’s voice and ear for a hook remains undimmed, though admittedly the caustic screams of old are missed. Coming in at over an hour, it could also have done with some slight editing down (Running and In Two drop below the standard), but undoubtedly, ‘Hesitation Marks’ is a very fine album. It doesn’t quite reach ‘The Downward Spiral’  or ‘The Fragile’ levels, but is easily equal to any of his post-millenial work.

Eight albums in, Nine Inch Nails is still relevant and still essential. Unsettling, catchy and completely unique, this, is how to grow old comfortably.

If you like ‘Hesitation Marks’ (and you will), you should check out Irish act No Spill Blood.