Nine Inch Nails' "Year Zero" Has Zero Emotional Appeal

Trent Reznor has been the God of Industrial Rock since he burst out onto the stage with Nine Inch Nails' debut album, "Pretty Hate Machine". With songs such as: "Terrible Lie", "Down In It", "Head Like a Hole", and "Sin", amongst others, Reznor put NIN on the map for good and his/their stature only grew from that point forward. "The Downward Spiral", "Broken", and "The Fragile" built upon the momentum garnered from the first record and catapulted Reznor to God-status in the Industrial Rock world. From that point forward, every Industrial Rock act to come along would be compared to the king of the genre, Nine Inch Nails. Then came "With Teeth", where Reznor and NIN seemed to focus less on their industrial forte' and swing more in the mainstream rock'n'roll direction. Many fans were disappointed with this new direction. I admit, I was surprised and maybe a tad disappointed, but the album grew on me some, especially a few of the songs, such as: "Getting Smaller", "The Hand That Feeds", "Only", and "Every Day is Exactly the Same".

It usually takes Reznor a number of years to compile another masterpiece. This was true in the cases of "The Downward Spiral" and "The Fragile". But, the same was not true this time around with "Year Zero" and I was, for lack of a better word, stoked to hear this album, especially due to the reviews I'd read from fans on Amazon. Many either compared it to "Pretty Hate Machine" or "The Downward Spiral" or made such remarkable claims as, "It's his (Reznor) best work since 'The Downward Spiral'." or "It's their best album ever!" "Nine Inch Nails is back!" "Reznor is back in genius form!" I read all of these exclamatory remarks and others. Through that, I admit, I was more excited than usual to hear a new album.

I don't know if it was due to all the excitement or what exactly, but I am (through two full listens in) very disappointed. From song one through sixteen, it's very monotonous, with little to no melody, little to no emotion, and hardly any catchy portions to any song.

I admit, I think/thought a concept album was a neat idea, especially since it dealt a bit with the corruption of the current administration and what direction their leading us toward. But, a concept album is nothing without the music. I haven't looked at the lyrics too carefully yet, but I don't know that I even care to after hearing the cd in its entirety. That's saying something coming from me, a long-time critic of Bush and his administration and a long-time fan of Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. Green Day compiled a concept CD not long ago, "American Idiot", and that is far superior to "Year Zero" for the simple fact that it's their best musical effort thus far in their careers. The concept is there and the music compliments the concept all the way through track 13 on "Whatsername". There is diversity in the tracks, emotion, and catchiness. The concept will therefore likely be replayed time and time again. Two listens through on "Year Zero" and there are only 3-5 songs out of the 16 on the album that I care to hear again.

Many might claim that one must look at the album as a whole to see it for the masterpiece it is, as opposed to each track individually. That may be true from the concept standpoint and perhaps the story is genius in how it's told. But from a musical standpoint, I just can't fathom that. There may be a lot of noise on the record and it may sound more industrial than "With Teeth", but that does not mean it is at all similar to "Pretty Hate Machine" or "The Downward Spiral" or that it's any good. In fact, there's too much noise, without any rhythm. Some songs just sound like a DJ doing his thing, Reznor having a field day on the computer, and a few kindergarten children banging pots and pans against the cement. One of the "hardest" tracks on the album, "My Violent Heart", has noise coming from every different direction, which leaves one's head throbbing from pain. It sounds like "Mr. Self-Destruct" done by a middle school band. There may have been plenty of noise in previous albums, but the noise was catchy, melodic (at times), with a rhythm to it. It was easy to bang one's head to "Mr. Self-Destuct", "March of the Pigs", "Head Like a Whole", "Starf***ers, Inc.", amongst many other songs. In a song such as "My Violent Heart", the head doesn't know what to do, so mine stood still.

There is way too much monotony on the album. Some might say that it's how a concept album should be constructed, since a story is being told. I disagree. As with every story, there is an intoduction and conclusion, there's dialogue, drama, happiness, laughs, emotion, and a climax. The introduction to this album/story is weak, the conclusion is fairly weak, there's hardly any emotion, and where's the climax? I couldn't find one. Wait, maybe I did, of the few songs I liked.

Some may even say, "Well, you just don't get it, do you?" I haven't looked at the lyrics yet. What is there to interpret or understand? This isn't a film I'm listening to, with a complex series of events and a mystery unsolved. I'm solely judging this album from a musical standpoint. If I were to write a review that I was confused by the story, then go ahead and state that I don't understand it, but based on the music alone? I'm not going to buy that argument, even if it's on half off.

There's so much monotony, it's difficult for me to describe each song individually, but I have graded them all from 1 to 5 (or 10) with a final score for the album at the bottom. Here they are:

1. Hyperpower! - 2.5/5 (5/10)
2. The Beginning of the End - 3/5 (6/10)
3. Survivalism - 2/5 (4/10)
4. The Good Soldier - 1.5/5 (3/10)
5. Vessel - 2/5 (4/10)
6. Me I'm Not - 2.5/5 (5/10)
7. Capital G - 4/5 (8/10)
8. My Violent Heart - 2/5 (4/10)
9. The Warning - 3/5 (6/10)
10. God Given - 1.5/5 (3/10)
11. Meet Your Master - 3.5/5 (7/10)
12. The Greater Good - 1/5 (2/10)
13. The Great Destroyer - 4.5/5 (9/10)
14. Another Version of the Truth - 2.5/5 (5/10)
15. In This Twilight - 4/5 (8/10)
16. Zero Sum - 2.5/5 (5/10)

41.5/80 (83/160) : 51.9%

There you have it. While 10 out of 16 songs score out at an average 5 of 10 or better, only 6 out of 16 scored at an above average 6 of 10 or better. To match that 6 out of 16 were scored at a below average 4 of 10 or lower.

I hope to Buddha, Zeus, and Planet Xenu that I can get more into this album, but from what I've heard, I can't see myself giving this many more listens.