Year Zero
In Trent Reznor’s world 2022 is Year Zero, not the year Social Security comes crashing down, but something more paranoid, angry and ominous, when drugs are filtered into the water supply to protect against a terrorist attack and mass consciousness comes dangerously unhinged. 1984 comes 38 years late. The concept fuels Reznor’s rage, and tracks such as “Survivalism” and “Capital G” feed o n the difficult events of the new millennium, but he also understands that preaching to the converted isn’t the only reason he’s held onto his audience. His adventures into sound range among the moody, atmospheric funk of “The Good Soldier” and “Vessel,” the sonically enhanced garage-rock swagger of “Capital G,” and the more expected rampages of “Survivalism” and “My Violent Heart.” Throughout, Reznor knows the value of a consistent groove and a jarring electric outburst. He seamlessly weaves these tracks into a long, continuous journey to the end of civilization.
Trent Reznor shuns radio-friendly alt-rock and settles into his role as a cult star, releasing a complex record about a dystopian near-future.
Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor reached such heights with Year Zero's guerilla-style promotional buildup—an endeavor that stretched from USB drives loaded with clues and "lost" in nightclub bathrooms to a network of websites whose fictionalized content laid clues to the lyrics' dystopian concept—that the album…
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An extreme right-wing theocratic dictatorship has taken over the U.S. and is waging war against the Middle East, while trying to keep the populace drugged by poisoning its drinking water. The environment and society is collapsing, civil liberties are no more, and Christian military police raid peopl...