Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero Album Review

Year Zero
Nine Inch Nails
Universal Music Group, 2007.

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Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails (NIN) have jumped headfirst into the world of politics with their newest album release titled Year Zero, so much so that the whole album is oozing about many of the social issues that are affecting America today such as the new global war on terror, the military industrial complex, the loss of fundamental liberties and freedoms, and the resultant new world to be.

The album is Reznor's prophetic attempt to describe a world that he sees coming in about a decade or so. Specifically, the date 2022 is being thrown around, contrary to the more popular 2012 doom-and-gloom prophecies. It is a no-holds-barred assault on our senses with strong lyrics and fat, raunchy synthetic sounds which are the trademarks of NIN.

Year Zero is both a step forward and a step back in that he seems to be going back to a sound that is classic NIN yet delves into the world of politics like an activist on a mission. The album is accompanied by several multimedia add-ons such as links to several new websites, a new flag of the so-called "resistance", a mock "turn yourself in" toll-free hotline that dials the mock "US Bureau of Morality", all of which are above and beyond the album itself. The CD also has a special thermo-chrome heat-sensitive coating that changes its face when heated, displaying binary code. In other words, the CD looks different before and after you play it (just don't stick a lighter under it).

Gimmicks aside, the album is quite good if you're into NIN. Not as good as say The Downward Spiral or The Fragile, but still highly recommended for all NIN fans.