Changes

By the time we got to the third one, we had an idea in mind but it felt … rehearsed. Predictable. In the end, what felt true was to say that we as a society and as a species are probably an accident, a mutation. Really what we are is fucking animals. And the illusion was enlightenment. The more we’ve connected with each other the dumber we’ve gotten and the more we decide we want to kill each other. We’re not some elevated transcendent beings, we’re bacteria in a jar. I wanted the art direction of ''Bad Witch'' to feel like shadows on a cave wall and we’re trying to figure out what it is and really there’s no nice, clean, safe scientific explanation. We’re just an accident. String theory and quantum physics is a fucking trick. And we’re not going to suddenly elevate ourselves into transcendent beings. We’re kidding ourselves. I know this will be an unsatisfying conclusion for some people. It isn’t what they want. They want it to be full matrix virtual reality, and this is the opposite of that, this is dirt and a broken computer chip and everything you believe in is really just bullshit.</blockquote>

==About==

The first two EPs came with "Physical components", optionally purchased items that were something to physically interact with. For ''Not The Actual Events'', a sealed black envelope of artwork and lyric sheets was available, filled with black makeup powder. For ''Add Violence'', a booklet printed in the style of a manual was made, containing artwork, lyrics, and stickers. ''Bad Witch'' did not have a component, but it's speculated by fans that the act of having to physically queue in the US for tickets for the accompanying tour, was the physical component for this release. This event was officially referred to as the Physical World presale, and each buyer was given a special presentation envelope for their ticket.

Some songs in the trilogy have additional lyrics hidden in various places. Some are hidden as "stealth" varnish print in the CD/vinyl liner notes, some are printed in the physical components, some are embedded in the digital distribution, and single lines were placed in some MP3 tags.

''For more information, see [[NIN 2017-2018]]''

The trilogy was supported by a back-to-basics touring cycle that mainly visited North America. The main leg of the tour, called [[Cold And Black And Infinite Tour|Cold And Black And Infinite]] and supported by [[The Jesus and Mary Chain]], took place in 2018. The shows saw an incredible variety in the setlists and also some unexpected live song premieres, such as "[[And All That Could Have Been (song)|And All That Could Have Been]]" and "[[The Perfect Drug (song)|The Perfect Drug]]". Another leg of the Cold And Black And Infinite Tour was [[Canceled Pandemic Dates|originally planned for 2020]], but these dates were canceled due to the pandemic. Shows were eventually played in [[NIN 2022|2022]] to close out this era.

All songs from the trilogy have been played live except "The Idea Of You", "Not Anymore", "Play The Goddamned Part", and "I'm Not From This World".

==Artworks==