Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
Rating
RIYL
A Perfect CircleDepeche Mode
KMFDM
Stabbing Westward
Tracklist
1. Hyperpower!2. The Beginning of the End
3. Survivalism
4. The Good Soldier
5. Vessel
6. Me, I’m Not
7. Capitol G
8. My Violent Heart
9. The Warning
10. God Given
11. Meet Your Master
12. The Greater Good
13. The Great Destroyer
14. Another Version of the Truth
15. In This Twilight
16. Zero Sum
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If someone was to be appointed to write a musical composition equivalent to the recent theatrical release Children of Men, Trent Reznor is about as good of a choice as one could make. His newest effort, Year Zero, is a glimpse 15 years into what Mr. Reznor sees as our likely future giving the state of the union today. Suffice it to say that Trent doesn’t envision us sitting around a big dinner table, holding hands, singing “We Are the World”, and loving one another.
This concept album sees a return of the Trent Reznor that carved out a niche for himself in the mid-90’s with a style of industrial music that was not only aggressive but equipped with sexuality. Those two things could easily define the songs found within this 63-minute tale. One could easily draw the conclusion that this album is what should have followed up his seminal work, The Downward Spiral.
Reznor charges out of the gate by starting the album off with the short-lived, fuzzy instrumental, “Hyperpower,” before introducing us to his world-gone-wrong in the head-bobbing, “The Beginning of the End” (if this album were the Lord of the Rings movie, this is the voiceover where they tell you how all that junk went down before they cut to present day). If Trent Reznor ever were to have a Jimi Hendrix moment where you could envision him just belting out on his instrument (here a synthesizer) before lifting it above his head, playing it with his teeth, and then setting it on fire, then this album has a few of them; the breakdown at the end of “The Beginning of the End” is the first of such moments. Next up on the disc is the lead single, “Survivalism”, which is a pretty good throwback to the NIN classic “Wish” in the sound department. This fist pumper with a side of danceability is sure to be a staple of live shows for some time to come. This song is also the first song of the album to feature some of Trent’s new barking style of singing. It’s as if the man has but a few breaths to get his sentence out and he’s damn well going to do it!
The next track furthers the statement that the sexy is, in fact, back. “The Good Soldier” features a deep, dark bass beat begging for bedroom exposure. It feels like you should be in a dirty club whose entranceway is down some nasty back alley. That feeling accurately describes a large portion of the album yet to come. The conclusion of “The Good Soldier” is jarred by the loud alarm-like scream of “Vessel” in all of its industrial wailing glory. The ominous “Me, I’m Not” slows the pace down a bit with its suffocating ambiance and is the closest resemblance on the album to 2005’s With Teeth. It’s followed by the politically charged groove of “Capitol G” (see if you think that beginning sounds like you’re about to hear Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel’).
Next up is “My Violent Heart”, which also was the first song “leaked” in the new marketing campaign for Year Zero where tracks were released to file-sharing programs on the Internet and various NIN-related websites to drum up interest. The quiet/loud dance of “My Violent Heart” is somewhat reminiscent of early Nails’ hit “Down In It” or even “Sin” off the same album. Reznor lets his vocals take a backseat to the electronic and guitar stylings of “The Warning” as they intermittently dance back and forth over his crooning whispers before ripping into the alluring, caustic “God Given” and the catchy “Meet Your Master”.
“The Greater Good” is a piece that would sound perfectly at home in a horror film, and also serves as the front of the low-key bookends to one of the album’s crowning achievements, “The Great Destroyer”. “The Great Destroyer”, while sounding like a throwback to video game music of yesterday's past, is also one of the more varied works on the album. The vocal melody of the song is both epic and very intimate while the second half of the track features some of Reznor’s best industrial work (another Hendrix moment for sure). This song alone makes any listener rethink getting a high-end surround-sound system for their house. The aforementioned back of the low-key bookends comes in the form of “Another Version of the Truth” which is fully instrumental and equally belongs on a movie soundtrack. The album is wrapped up with the slow-grind of “In This Twilight” and the repenting fade-out anthem that is “Zero Sum”. It’s not quite as good of an album closer as With Teeth’s “Right Where It Belongs”, but it still sends the listener off with a haunting, piano-laden adieu.
In closing, Year Zero is exactly the jolt that NIN fans have been waiting for and slowly seen building over the past couple of albums. It has some commercial viability, but it feels too taboo – which is exactly how the band was portrayed in their pinnacle. Hints that there may be a follow-up album in the not-so-distant future are welcomed as this album leaves you wanting more, but in a good way. Here’s to hoping Reznor continues his current trend of each album bettering the last, because that next album would have to be a monster.
--Jeremy Deal
Author
Jeremy Deal
Comments
SL, UT
Trollin' with my homies.
Fort Bragg, CA
Well, I was a big fan back in high school in 95/96.. then they fell out of my good graces for some time and only recently did the works bring them back in. So to clarify, it wasn't a "fan-boy" review (if it would've been a bad album, it would've been panned as I'm the world's worst for setting my expectations too high for anticipated releases), but it sounds like you took what I said the right way.
"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against
Minnesota
Olathe, Kansas
SL, UT
Hey anything that makes me interested to hear it is a review I can appreciate.
Trollin' with my homies.
Edmonton, AB
Anytown USA
THe last several? There have been 2 albums since The Downward Spiral and The Fragile is considered by most NIN fan's a masterpiece, myself included. So really he made one misstep in With Teeth (hardly a terrible album, just not quite up to par)....so honestly, what's your point?
You play to win the game.
There's definitely different stuff, but to say it sounds "nothing" like it.. sorry, won't do it.
I'll actually go on record as disagreeing with you on The Fragile. There are a few songs I liked, but overall, that's where he lost me for a while. I recognize the wet-dream it must be to the fans that wanted more ambience and such, but it did bore me for the most part. (Truth be told, there were elements of Downward Spiral that I wasn't thrilled with at the time - Pretty Hate Machine has always been my favorite NIN album) I know a lot of people were "eh" on With Teeth, but I think it's because it was half-way between Spiral and Fragile.. so neither camp of NIN fans was happy (apparently I was voting Independent, because I was content with the album as a whole piece - not great, but content).
"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against
Austin
The Daily Galaxy
An elephant that never forgets...to kill!
Dubuque
Facebook / MySpace
View Chris Conlan's profile on LinkedIn
Manchester, England
hell, maybe I wont, but i deff want to hear this record.
Holland
trent never fails to impress me
JOIN THE RESISTANCE
...this is the end.
Cradle Of Filth
The Whip
Psyclon Nine
AFI
CKY
Anytown USA
You play to win the game.
Sacramento, CA
I'm not here to make things better; only to observe and pass judgement.
East Lansing, MI
SL, UT
Trollin' with my homies.
I somewhat agree with this statement... there were some great songs, but some stuff that didn't do a lot for me that had to be sifted through. I will say as my tastes have grown I appreciate the album more, but still... it's my least favorite NIN release.
"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against
SL, UT
Trollin' with my homies.
Madison, WI
As for the Fragile, if Reznor had split the CD into instrumentals and songs with lyrics, I honestly would rather buy the instrumentals. Almost all of his songs with lyrics come off as annoying and whiny or adolescent. And it seems like Reznor just copied-and-pasted the thesarus entry under "decay" for his lyrics to the Fragile.
Tucson, AZ
San Francisco, Ca