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Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero


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It took Trent Reznor only two years to prepare a brand new album. Quick, wasn’t it? Before the official release we could play in a very innovative advertising campaign of "Year Zero". Reznor decided to compose a concept album once again – the "album with hand" is a very pessimistic vision of America of the year 2022, which is (in his opinion) very likely, if the current government will still exist. In the year 2022 authorities control American citizens on every step, poisoning the drinking water with a special substance called parepin (it makes people more tractable and has unfavorable effect on potency, which leads to the decrease of births), the planet is devastated with constant wars and the whole situation has become so terrible, that the God himself decided to react with the giant hand – known as The Presence – which comes down to earth at the most important moments. Reznor’s alternative reality is so huge, that it would be very difficult to present it on just one album – that’s why "Year Zero" is only the first part of a duology and Trent wants to create the whole TV series set in the universe.
Also the sophisticated campaign made by 42 Entertainment played a big role in creating the experience. The Alternative Reality Game (ARG) was launched via few websites, that described Reznor’s vision of the future and allowed fans to get into his world. URLs were hidden on tour T-shirts, in the spectrometral record of one song, which people found on a pendrive in some toilet near the venue, when a Nine Inch Nails concert took place, and there was even a billboard in London connected with the ARG. Complete Spar.. em.. Madness. One of the craziest actions was the meeting of Art Is Resistance community (the resistance movement in "Year Zero" world) in Los Angeles, where Nine Inch Nails gave a surprise gig. After few songs, an anti-terrorist unit broke in and started to shoot in the crowd (of course everything was controlled).
The whole experience with searching new websites and solving the mysteries of Trent Reznor’s universe has united NIN fans from the whole world and famous forum Echoing The Sound was really bursting at the seams then. After SUCH campaign it’s no wonder, that everyone expected even more from the musical part.
So how this whole "Year Zero" sounds like? Electronic and minimalistic. The guitars are marginal – weird, noisy sounds, which "damage" every track, are more important here. The album is amazingly produced as always, but it’s far from the rich sound of "The Downward Spiral" or "The Fragile" – it’s more like the ascetic arrangements of "With Teeth". Songs that reminds that album the most are "The Beginning Of The End" (just like "The Collector") and "The Warning", definitely the worst track on "Year Zero", based only on a simple, looped guitar riff.
Reznor quite often cites himself – "Hyperpower!" is a wilder version of "Pilgrimage" set in apocalyptic world, at the end of "Survivalism" we can hear a guitar solo, that plays the ending part of "Closer" (and "Survivalism" itself is a mix of "Wish" and "The Hand That Feeds"), and the piano in "Zero-Sum" is a barely changed melody of "Right Where It Belongs". Besides, all tracks are very schematic – each begins with electronic beat, next verse, chorus, verse, chorus and some noise solo, which is often the most interesting part of the whole song. Compared to what Trent Reznor made in the past to vary his works, it’s easy to say that he has run out of ideas this time. Even though there are some tracks, that wouldn’t make it on previous NIN record: "Me, I'm Not" is a Massive Attack-like trip hop trance, "God Given" and "Capital G" are the most poppy song in the whole NIN catalogue and "The Great Destroyer" – which seems to be a nice, guitar hit at the beginning – breaks after second chorus and becomes an IDM solo piece, which could be made by Aphex Twin.
Since I mentioned "Capital G", it’s important to say, that Reznor’s way of singing is completely different than what we know him from. He recites the most of the lyrics and sometimes is very close to rap, which can be easily seen in this track. Honestly, "In This Twilight" is the only song here sang in the old manner. It’s a beautiful apocalyptic ballad and along with the touching "Zero-Sum" – the last telephone call in the history of the whole world, mixed with gospel singing "Shame on us / For all we've done / And all we ever were / Just zeros and ones" – it’s an ideal end to a Nine Inch Nails album.
"Year Zero" becomes in general really interesting not before the 11th track. It’s "Meet Your Master", where catchy noises mixed with strings appear, it’s after 11th track, when the two instrumentals appear - swinging "The Greater Good" and piano "Another Version Of The Truth", which gives no hope for the future of our world. From the first half of the album, I chose "The Good Soldier" as the best song. It’s a nice, synth ballad about doubts of a soldier – it could be sang by US Army in Iraq (instead of "Fire Water Burn"..).
And this is the biggest pain of this album – just one chorus of "The Hand That Feeds" was acceptable, but the whole album about current government of America is definitely not the thing I expect from a Nine Inch Nails record. "Year Zero" can be liked, but the problem is that I can’t find any feelings, listening to those modern, political songs. And that was NIN’s trademark up to here. So let Trent Reznor quickly end this play in changing the world with his music and become depressed like the old times – it seems that sadness is necessary for him to create brilliant albums.

Tracklist:
1. Hyperpower!
2. The Beginning of the End
3. Survivalism
4. The Good Soldier
5. Vessel
6. Me, I'm Not
7. Capital 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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Translator: alucard
Add date: 2009-02-06 / Music reviews


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