Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

[Mike F]

Nine Inch Nail newest album is out -- anyone gone out and got it yet?

I've only listened to some song previews, and as someone who was a big fan of their earlier work but found "With Teeth" to be poppy tripe my early impression is that musically it's more in line with what I want/expect, but vocally it's pretty weak.

Anyone with a more indepth review?

[Bobblehead]

Is this the one with the CD that changes colour as it heats up?

[Sparks]

Nine Inch Nails is one of those bands I haven't liked in a really long time, but I always end up buying the new albums. I'm starting to think it must be some kind of mind control.

So, I got the new one. Whether you'll like it or not probably depends on what albums of his you like. It reminds me of The Downward Spiral, and honestly, this is the album that he should have released after it, say in '96.

I actually like it, and that surprised me. Trent is something like 45 years old, so the whole fifteen-year-old-angry-at-his-parents lyrics were starting to sound ridiculous. Thankfully, while the lyrics aren't that great on this one, in my opinion, he's actually writing about something other than how mad he is at them (whoever that is), and its a welcome change.

The songs also sound quite a bit different than his more recent albums (The Fragile, With Teeth). They're mostly built around some crazy synth-drum programming and noise, and it's pretty cool. I like it. It's noisy as hell in a synthy way.

One problem I have with the album is that all the songs are same-y, so be prepared for that. I'm finding it hard to tell the songs apart. The other problem I have is with one of the later songs in the album, when he sings "I am the great destroyer!" with this silly three part harmony or something. It sounds straight out of Transformers. I swear to god. And I laugh my ass off every time I hear it - pure cheese.

Really though, for the first time in a long time, I can say I like it. I picked it up because it was only $10, and for that price, I say pick it up and give it a shot.

Posted by Bobblehead:
Is this the one with the CD that changes colour as it heats up?

Yup. It goes in black and comes out white. Kinda neat.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Is this the one with the CD that changes colour as it heats up?

Sure is! I thought I was going crazy when I first took it out. Thought to myself, I SWEAR I put it in and it was all black. After finally admitting I was crazy, I put it in the case and looked at it later, only to see it black again. I glad that I actually wasn't crazy.

Love the cd though. And for $10, how could you go wrong?

[Daradon]

Yup, I picked it up on Tuesday. I love it though it's going to be one of those CD's you either really like, or probably dislike. It's almost 'old-school' industrial in it's sound, very gritty and simplistic beat and melody-wise. Not a lot of the sweeping Reznor type songs that really build. Though it does seem to be pretty artistic and different with all it's 'glitchy' sounds. It's definitely more artistic than his last album. The whole feel of the album is pretty dark of course, given that it's a context album about the dangers facing the U.S. system in the future, that could be expected.

So much of the experience is going to all the Year Zero sites (phoning the numbers, usng the e-mail addresses) and such and really absorbing the lyrics. I was geeking out on all the sites before the CD was released, was a lot of fun and very interesting.

Reznor says he's going to continue the Year Zero phenomena for about 18 months after the release of the CD so that should be fun.

Yup the CD changes color, did a double take wehn I popped it out of my car, 'I SWEAR this was grey when I put it in'. It reveals binary code that can be converted to ASCII to give another Year Zero website.