The last full album I listened to was Year Zero, by the group Nine Inch Nails. Five of the sixteen tracks on the album are fairly well known by the public, but for the most part each song on the album is public worthy. “The Beginning of the End”, “Survivalism”, “Capital G”, “The Great Destroyer” and “Meet Your Master” are the strongest tracks, and have received a fair amount of praise. Some songs, such as “Zero Sum”, “The Greater Good”, and “Another Version of the Truth”, seem to drag on, leading only to disappointment after the buildups with dreary and inconsistent choruses.
By the standards of the man behind the project, Trent Reznor, the album is very unlike any other albums he has done before. The album seems less experimental, and appears to follow more set song structures. Year zero tries to appeal to every angle, not particularly focusing on one sound over another, though the drone and laptop-type electronic sharp tunes contrast against one another in almost every song. It is far less instrument-based than his earlier album, simply and purely set noise, often blurring to set an interesting contrast.
The songs are sudden, and definitely not something to simply relax to. With its art rock influences, it keeps one aware the entire album. One cannot deny the brilliance of Trent Reznor, a pioneer in the genre. The amount of care put in each song is evident, unlike some of his other, more experimental work (at one point, he had released four albums worth of music all at once, completed in only a couple months). All in all, a wonderful album that has surely gotten well deserved recognition.
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