Year Zero

Normally, I'm not one to gush about a new album that comes out. Sometimes I'll suggest it to my friends. Sometimes I'll pass out a few copies to people I know. But on a rare occasion, I'll actually spend time trying to convince people to go out and give something a serious listen. And this is one of those times.

When I heard that there was a new Nine Inch Nails album coming out this year, I had mixed feelings. Sure, more NIN is a good thing, but it hadn't been very long since the last album and I heard that NIN mastermind Trent Reznor had recorded most of the album while on his bus during the With Teeth tour. I was expecting it to sound rushed and probably not as great as With Teeth, which I thought was only above average.

Word that the new disc was a concept album about the future leaked, which basically made me roll my eyes and push the album from my mind. What's up with all these bands feeling like they have to put out concept albums? Sure, it could end up really good like American Idiot or The Black Parade...but it could just as easily suck balls like he debacle known as Sam's Town. I thought Year Zero (the new album's name) was going to suck.

I was very wrong.

Year Zero is technically an album. You'd be safe in saying that. There's instruments and vocals that make up 16 songs on a CD, which last I checked, is an album. But at the same time, it's much more than that.

I've always been a huge fan of Trent Reznor. He's always been a really smart person and way ahead of his time musically. And since he's finally kicked drugs, he's been a very engaging and aware person in the interviews I've read about him. Part of what makes Year Zero so great is the fact that it goes beyond being just "an album". Reznor himself admits that Year Zero is "the soundtrack to a movie that has yet to be made."

Allow me to explain...

The Year Zero album cover

Year Zero is set about 15 years in the future, where the government controls everything. According to reports, the first sign that Year Zero was coming came some time last year during the With Teeth tour. A fan that bought a NIN shirt at the concert noticed when he got home that there were words printed on the back of his shirt. He didn't notice it till he got home since the printing was black-on-black, but when he held it up into the light he saw it:
"I AM TRYING TO BELIEVE"

Throwing that phrase into a Google search came up with this webpage. Long story short, it's a bunch of reports about Parepin, a drug that the government has been putting into America's water supply saying that it helps our immune systems. However, possible side effects may include mind control and causing people who take it to hallucinate (seeing giant hands coming down from the sky).

A quick e-mail to the site admin gives you this auto-reply message:

Thank you for your interest. It is now clear to me that Parepin is a completely safe and effective agent developed to protect us from bio-terrorism. The Administration is acting purely in the best interests of its citizens; to suggest otherwise was irresponsible and I deeply regret it. I'm drinking the water. So should you.

Over time, other clues and stories related to Year Zero have been popping up. Videos have been appearing on YouTube showing giant hands reaching down from the sky. Fake posters have been hung at and around NIN concerts calling for a resistance. Stickers have been showing up on public payphones like the one pictured below.

More and more websites have been popping up as well, each of them giving us more background on what's happened over the last 15 years to lead America to the events in Year Zero. You can find all of them here, a site dedicated to discussing the websites (there are now over 30!) and everything that has to do with Year Zero. My personal favorites are Hollywood In Memoriam, which tells the story of when dirty bombs went off at the 81st Academy Awards, and Art Is Resistance.

But none of that is important, is it? I mean, all of this back story means nothing if the album sucks, right?

Well, that's true. Luckily, that's not the case.

I would say that Year Zero was an exceptional album even without the background info. While waaay less guitar-driven than With Teeth, the industrial mash-up with Reznor's sometimes spoken/sometimes sung way of delivering lyrics stands up against both and The Downward Spiral and The Fragile. But knowing what this project is all about gives all of the songs so much subtext that it completely brings the album to a whole new level. If you know even a little bit about the world of Year Zero, the songs start to make sense, both individually and as a whole. My Violent Heart and Zero-Sum, two of the stronger tracks on the album, are fantastic anthems for the fictitious resistance in this bleak future world. And sure, Capital G is a big "fuck you" aimed directly at George Bush (I push the button and elect him into office/He push the button and he drops the bomb), it really can be directed toward anyone at any time that refuses to listen to the people.

Look, I can go on and on about what I love about this album, but I'll just say that if you like music at all, and if you're interested in listening to something that's just a collection of singles and filler with nothing that connects the songs, go buy this album.

And if you want a small taste of the world of Year Zero, call this number: 1-866-445-6580. It's the number of the United States Bureau of Morality. It was on a stamp on the back of the album and it said to call that number if you knew anyone in possession of the CD. Go ahead and try it...it only takes about 54 seconds.

As I said before, Trent Reznor is way ahead of his time, and the world he's created for Year Zero is just one sign of that. Before the album came out, Trent would leave USB drives in the bathroom stalls of the concert venues he was playing at that contained where to find some of the websites, as well as MP3 recordings of some of the album's tracks. Asked why he did it, Reznor said, "The USB drive was simply a mechanism of leaking the music and data we wanted out there. The medium of the CD is outdated and irrelevant. It's really painfully obvious what people want — DRM-free music they can do what they want with. If the greedy record industry would embrace that concept I truly think people would pay for music and consume more of it." I couldn't agree more.

The thing I love most about this album is that it isn't a record just to have another record out on the market. Reznor made this album as a statement. He made it to be art and to say something to his audience, which is a lot more than Hinder has ever done for their fans.

And the best part is that there's 2 more albums on the way in the next few years.

(NOTE: If you want to catch up on the whole Year Zero world quickly, go here or here. It's like Cliffsnotes.)


You have set something in motion
Much greater than you've ever known
Standing there in all your grand naivety
About to reap what you have sown
Time will feed upon your weaknesses
And soon you'll lose the will to care
When you return to the place that you call home
We will be there...


We will be there...
- Nine Inch Nails, My Violent Heart