Year Zero (Digi)

Trent Reznor has never really been a bundle of sunshine, but he reaches a new level of darkness in Nine Inch Nails' "Year Zero."

It's a pessimistic view of what the world might be in 2022, if all of society were to decay (which doesn't really happen, but still...). And he unleashes this nihilism in a sweeping, razor-edged concept album, full of pointed lyrics and ominous electro-rock.

It opens with the rapid drums of "Hyperpower," an intro that weaves in some fuzzy bass and spasmodic electronica. It segues into a tight, spare hard-rocker with squiggling synth, with Reznor being drowned out as he sings, "Down on your knees/You'll be left behind/This is the beginning/Watch what you think/They can read your mind..."

The songs that follow are suitably bleak hard-rockers laced with synth -- the undulating creepy "Survivalism," slow-burning hard-rock ballads, explosive muscular rockers, razor-edged electrorock, and the rapid smash'n'rapping of "Capital G," which is unsurprisingly about a certain president.

"Year Zero" is a tight coil of nihilistic rock, unwinding to show off its dark message as the songs go on. While society has never utterly crumbled all at once, this album sounds like the soundtrack to the ultimate apocalypse movie, with hints of oppression and corruption from all sides.

His music is basically a combination of hammering bass and drums and a tight muscular guitar. There's also that classic electronic edge -- jabs of steely synth sometimes, squealing screeches at others, and frenetic squidges at others. It's all twisted together into ominous, unstoppable melodies.

And Reznor howls out haunting songs, which are full of misery, numbness, some rather excessive jabs at religion, jagged political barbs, laments, and sometimes gleeful anger ("Come on down, my friend/It's time to meet your MASTER!"). The rapping sound was a bad idea, though -- it sounds too forthright for the rest of the album.

But there seems to be a faint glimmer of hope in the final song, where he intones "May God have mercy on our dirty little hearts," and relates, "And I guess I just wanted to tell you, as the lights start to fade,/That you are the reason that I am not afraid... as the heavens will fall,/We will be together soon if we will be anything at all." It ends with windy synth and a delicate piano outro.

Darkness and pessimism rule "Year Zero," a blistering and tightly written ode to a bleak worst-case-scenario future. Dark, ominous and thoroughly amazing.

Okay so I've been a Nine Inch Nails fan for a long time. Years and years.

Yes Trent has put out amazing albums throughout these years. Many of you still hold on to the Downward Spiral, or The Fragile, or perhaps Broken.ETC.

His more, angry depressed years.

And his new stuff may never compare to that, but Year Zero is an awesome album for sure. You can still hear his old-downward spiral-sound to it in some of the songs.

The album is a bit more mellow but has a beautiful sound to it, like Zero-Sum, or In this Twilight,or Another Version of the truth-all have Trents classic piano-playing skills.

Please I suggest you give this album a chance. A lot of people are still stuck in the past with his older stuff and actually wishing that he would go back to drugs-which is a horrible thing to wish for. Overall, you should be happy that he hasnt retired!

Year Zero is a political album. May not be your cup of tea, but I think it was a great idea. Were living in a weird period right now, and everything is so screwed up in this world. Governments, the society etc.

And Trent defiantly had something to say in this album, that will defiantly suck you into his world, and open your eyes a little more to whats going on around you!

So please, give it a listen, or buy it!

How much you like this album will probly depend on what you thought of With Teeth. I've been flip-flopping on which one is better, sometimes I think this one, and some times I think With Teeth. I do love the fact that instrumental tracks found their way onto this album. I'd probly say this album is like With Teeth meets Things Falling Apart meets Pretty Hate Machine. Trent Reznor has really done amazing work with this album, with the whole online game and the hidden sites and all the other surprises, it's too bad he didn't make this album a little better. For it to fit more into the online world of Year Zero, I think he needed to make the lyrics more clear about certain "events" like singing about Opal or The Pressence... this album seems like a mix of story telling and real life events of Reznor when he should have made it more clear that this is a conpect album... I've also got to give him thumbs up for speaking out about the record compainies and how they've destoryed the "biz" and not the net. So back into Year Zero, yes it's wroth buying if you're a true fan from way back; but as long as Trent is sober, we'll never see the genuis that Reznor once was with his music, this is a fact we'll have to live with. If you're not sure about this album then you can listen to the whole thing on the NIN website. I like it, it's better than most of the other music out there today, it's just not the same NIN we grew up with.