Trent Reznor returns with his 6th studio release, “Year Zero”,available April 17th, it is based off of the concept of a corrupted and dilapidated United States 15 years in the future. Reznor employed some innovative marketing tricks in the weeks leading up to the release of the album. From hiding website addresses in band touring t-shirts that led to multiple websites describing conspiracy theories tied to the concept, to USB drives being ‘found’ at concerts with new songs on them. Reznor even made up a fictional United States Bureau, The Bureau of Morality, that encourages you to turn in anyone “Consuming or Spreading” the new album. The extra attention to detail could be attributed to the fact that Reznor felt that this album had to be made.
The inspiration for the album came from an experiment with sounds on his laptop while touring. The sounds evoked images of the end of the world and with that, the themes of greed and power consuming the earth. In a statement where he describes his album he said “I believe sometimes you have a choice in what inspiration you choose to follow and other times you really don’t. This record is the latter.” He added “Once I tuned into it, everything fell into place… as if it were meant to be.”
The sound of the album is a lot more electronic and noisy than the clean, live band sounding, 2005 effort “With Teeth”. The beats are heavy, the noises are scratchy, and Reznor’s lyrics open up in a more descriptive way than the usual angry and swearing grunts and groans. There are even tinges of optimism in various songs. Like “In This Twilight” (15) which starts with a typically twitchy beat, it climbs out of the dark to produce a strangely inspiring moment. It evokes the image of someone crawling through the rubble of an old building to find a loved one they thought had died, or a new or lost technology that could save us all. While the music is still distinctly industrial you can hear hip hop influences in the funkiness of the beats. Many songs have a very dance-able groove, but the inner fury of the static noise editing keeps it, thankfully, from ever turning disco.
One example of a this is when the raging noise ballad gives way to a storm of 8 bit percussion in “The Great Destroyer” (13). The fist pumping, foot stomping anthem of the record would have to be the shock and awe bombing campaign of “My Violent Heart” which goes from spoken word and a minimalist beat to all out sonic mayhem. The song that grabbed my attention after repeated listenings is the bass heavy groove machine called “God Given” (10) which employs, at the bombastic chorus, an 808 cowbell. I think you can infer the greatness.
Nine Inch Nails have crafted a unique return to form that will no doubt have hardcore fans enthralled once again and will also draw in new fans with its, dare I say, more intelligent sound.
Buy “Year Zero”
Nine Inch Nails Official Site (Stream the Full Album Here)
MP3 – My Violent Heart – NIN
MP3 – In This Twilight – NIN
MP3 – God Given – NIN (Highly Reccomended)
The songs are long and droning, almost every musical aspect is extended. This sometimes works in a hauntingly beautiful fashion, and sometimes just puts me to sleep. Such is the balance of Low’s latest album “Drums and Guns”. While their method is hit and miss, I have to condone them for stepping outside the usual indie formula. When they break out the beats, the slower pace allows for maximum groove, and their guitar solos feel like a piece of chewing gum that someone stretched out, in a good way. Their highest achievement would be the stellar harmonies that hold the album together. One outstanding point where a song pulls out from being sonic wallpaper and into a pop gem is “Hatchet” (8). When it’s growling bass line and clinky guitar give way to the harmonized lyrics about rivalries between the Beatles and the Stones it manifests the album’s most fun moment. The only thing is that as soon as it gets rolling it’s over. The best example of their slow-mo groovy-ness would be “Breaker” (3). It sounds like the funkiest funeral march you’ve ever heard, with its droning church organ and hand claps it’s like what you’d expect to be played at James Brown’s funeral. Low create some haunting soundscapes and drones that end before they get old, which is good because people can only take so much of the same note, but when they get something good going it ends far too soon.
