Album Reviews
Hear it Now
View Reznor brings the pain on Year Zero, his strongest, weirdest and most complex record since The Downward Spiral. On his surprise 2005 comeback, With Teeth, Reznor sounded unsure of himself, sweating for a hit. He front-loaded it with mediocre radio-rock bangers like "The Hand That Feeds," pushing the kinkier material to the second half. But after the success of With Teeth, he's got his bravado back. This time, he's cooked up a concept album about an American police state, fifteen years in the future. To suit the paranoid vibe, Year Zero is dense yet minimal, inspired by the Bomb Squad production on early Public Enemy records. Reznor leaked the tracks onto the Interwebs by leaving them on USB drives in bathroom stalls at his European shows, a very Crying of Lot 49 way to do it.
The target of his rage on Year Zero is "Capital G," and you'll never guess who that stands for. (Hint: "I pushed a button and elected him to office/He pushed a button, and it dropped the bomb.") In Capital G's regime, the military runs the government ("Survivalism") and the church ("God Given"), watching every move you make. The nation keeps a permanent war going, using up soldiers and spitting them out, until they finally rebel in the anthem "Your Violent Heart." As science fiction, Year Zero is nothing special; fifteen years in the future sounds like a fifteen-year-old X-Files rerun, complete with the slogan "I am trying to believe." But just by forcing Reznor to get out of his head and imagine the world beyond his own private Idaho, the concept inspires him musically. "The Beginning of the End" stays on the scene with a "My Sharona" drum hook; "Vessel" is a cosmic sex/drug meltdown ("I let you put it in my mouth/ I let it get under my skin") with a nasty electro-goth disco twitch.
"Me, I'm Not" is his toughest song since "Closer," which it resembles; over a sinister, mechanical death-funk groove, Reznor whispers about dangerous pleasures, pleading, "You've got something I need." (Hey, another X-Files connection.) In songs like "The Good Soldier," "My Violent Heart" and "Meet Your Master," Reznor makes facing up to sobriety sound like a soldier getting over a war, whether he's using militarism as a metaphor for addiction or vice versa. And not since his debut has he sung so much about masters, servants, getting down on your knees, bowing to the one you serve, etc. The density of the mix evokes not just Public Enemy but Pere Ubu, the 1970s Cleveland punk-industrial pioneers who did Datapanik in Year Zero, giving NIN more fruitful musical templates than The Wall ever did. On Year Zero, Reznor doesn't exactly sound like he's having fun -- does he ever? But he runs out of disc space before he runs out of ideas, and it's the first time that's happened in quite a while.
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- HYPERPOWER!
- The Beginning of the End
- Survivalism
- The Good Soldier
- Vessel
- Me, I'm Not
- Capital G
- My Violent Heart
- The Warning
- God Given
- Meet Your Master
- The Greater Good
- The Great Destroyer
- Another Version of the Truth
- In This Twilight
- Zero Sum
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Your Turn
Review 1 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
When the notion of ''Concept album' comes up, this album should be added to that prestigious list. 2007 seems to be the death of the concept album but somehow Trent Reznor has woven together a patchwork of songs that are both violent in their sonic revelations and the lyrical content that brings us into the darkness that is today.
Downward Spiral was just the beginning and as Reznor kicks off on the 1st track, "this is the beginning of the end."
Year Zero
Dec 18, 2007 12:31:05
Review 2 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
Brilliant work yet again from Trent, saw them perform at leeds festival, amazing, best band there with the visuals and the audio. Year Zero is a great story to follow and has been in the advertising of it. More of the same please from NIN. Id also like to say that Reznor doesnt get the credit he deserves, Every album they have released has been ahead of its time and has captivated a wide audience with its emotional and paranoia themes, its not emo at all its brilliance. Nick
Sep 20, 2007 06:30:16
Review 3 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
All I can say is thank god for Trent Reznor, he has given us the album we have wanted for years. Basicly what he is saying with this album is daring the heavy metal genre to explore, i have not heard anything this great since, Shotgun Messiah's 1993 album Violent New Breed, back when Tim Skold now of Marilyn Manson was exploring industrial Metal music. Thank NIN for bringing the sound back. I am definatly looking forward to the next NIN album.
Sep 3, 2007 11:20:48
Review 4 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
Like watching footage of yourself on a security camera. The problem with the music is not that it is bad, it is that is inappropriate. The opinions are wrong as are all the ideas in the album. Has anyone actually stopped to listen to what he is saying and tried to take in his message? Not just him but a whole school of musicians out there right now need to grow up and get on the right track and straighten up. There is this whole school of dumb musicians who have taking the cue from Renegades of Funk and decided to put out hazing music. I want to see more morality in music. It is what human beings and not vampires relate too. I know 13 year olds more mature than these people.
Jul 28, 2007 18:20:22
Review 5 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
ive been a nin fan since junior high (im 24 now)trent reznor is so amazing at what he does. when i first heard the album, it made me feel like i did when i heard them for the very first time. this album has inspired me so much to pursue all the artistic things i put on the back burner. i especially like the creative use of the trumpets and trombones on 'me, im not'. it completely reaffirmed my faith in new albums from artists i liked that were on haitus. EXCEPT SMASHING PUMPKINS.
Jul 20, 2007 08:19:06
Review 6 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
trent reznor is a genius. this cd is a freakin masterpiece. i cant decide whether i like this or the downward spiral better. the alternate reality game thing he did to promote this was very interesting, too. you should check out the freaky websites; just go to nin's wikipedia pages and you'll find them somewhere. i was researching them for the longest time, trying to figure out what he was doing. he's saying that our world could change a lot in 15 years (which is when this all takes place) and it's not good. besides all of that, the album is very good. every song's cool in it's own way, and i can't wait for part two of this to come out. a movie could come out for it too, so i'm looking foreword to that. go and buy it right now if you havn't
Jul 19, 2007 21:08:37
Review 7 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
Not since the Downward Spiral has paranoia and pessemism
sound so good from Trent Reznor, (not that it ever sounded
bad). In Year Zero Trent Reznor takes the challenge of
sobriety head on, and against odds you may have felt in place
from Awitha Teetha, he knocks it out of the park. Year Zero is
a mesh angst, noise, and contempt for ignorance. Shame on
any NIN fans who don't like this because they say it's not real
NIN. Yeah, this is an electric album, not metal, get over it. You
listen to Pretty Hate Machine right? Well for you praise PHM
and diss YZ, take a second and think. And for the few who say
Trent shouldn't express his political veiws, fuck you. Here's
how I would judge the songs themselves:
Hyperpower!-6/10
TBOTE-6/10
Survivalism-8/10
The Good Soldier-9/10
Vessel-8/10
Me, I'm Not-9/10
Capital G-9/10
My Violent Heart-7/10
The Warning-10/10
God Given-9/10
Meet Your Master-8/10
The Greater Good-7/10
The Great Destroyer-8/10
AVOTT-7/10
In this Twilight-10/10
Zero Sum-8/10
Is this T. Rizzle's best since TDS? Yes.
Can he stay sober and still write? Yes.
Will you say this review was helpful? Yes.
Jul 9, 2007 19:47:50
Review 8 of 35
No Screen Name writes:
this is a must have for any nine inch nails fan. at first i was a little worried about how this album was going to sound but this cd really kicks ass. very different from trent's earlier works but the change is really good. every song on this cd really explains what the cd is all about. in this twilight and zero sum are some of the best nin work to date. like i said simply a must have for any nin fan.
Jun 20, 2007 16:14:54
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