Closer To God

About

Closer To God (also known as Halo 9), released on May 30, 1994, is a remix compilation released to promote the Nine Inch Nails song "Closer" from the album The Downward Spiral. The UK releases do not bear a halo number. The "Thrust" remix of "Closer" was intended for this release, but was left off. Trent Reznor would later release it for free on remix.nin.com. Another mix that was released on the unofficial download-only compilation Uncoiled, and later released semi-officially on Recoiled, may have originally been planned for release on Closer To God. The cover art is frequently misattributed to Russell Mills, as he created the art for all other releases from The Downward Spiral period. It was actually done by photographer Joseph Cultice, though he is uncredited on the packaging. In an interview with Revolver magazine, Cultice elaborated on the photo shoot that resulted in the halo's cover: "I never shot still lifes of bugs before. But I'd assisted a guy named Hans Neleman, who was lighting things with mirrors and little teeny hot lights and laying things between layers and layers of glass — that's like coffee and milkshakes and snot and dirt and stuff from the street. On this one the bug is right on top and sharp, but all that stuff below is different layers of junk on the glass. Remember that movie Interview With a Vampire? It had just finished wrapping… The guy that brought the bugs was part of the company that did all the animal wrangling for Interview With a Vampire — all the alligators and all that. He brought boxes and boxes — like Ikea clear boxes — filled with millipedes and cockroaches. We shot like 50 different pictures of bugs, and this is the one that turned out to be the cover. Trent was there the whole day, because he wanted to hang out with the bugs.".

via Last.fm

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