it's been two years since a new nine inch nails album. and i have to say that although i've never been a superfan, i've enjoyed their music throughout the years. i actually was a big fan of 2005's with teeth.

today nin releases their newest album titled year zero. trent reznor has said that year zero is a concept album that "could be about the end of the world," and marked a "shift in direction" in that it doesn't sound like with teeth. in fact, the new york times review of the album titled the article "flirting with dystopia", which fits with reznor's description of what he was going for.

kelefah sanneh of the ny times even shares a few notes with it's readers in which any true nin fan would have figured out by now:

Some will enjoy finding connections between these songs and the narrative that unfolds on the cryptic “Year Zero” Web sites; fans have had to figure out the URL addresses on their own. (“Another Version of the Truth” is an instrumental
track; anotherversionofthetruth.com is one of the sites.) But even listeners who don’t know their Parepin (a sinister panacea of the future) from their Opal (an illegal drug of the future) may find that this fictional world serves a useful purpose.

all in all, reznor's vision of the future seems to be bleak, although with the war, environmental problems, intolerence, and violence in the world today, maybe his opinions have hit the nail in the head.

track listing for year zero:

"Hyperpower!" – 1:42
"The Beginning of the End" – 2:47
"Survivalism" – 4:24
"The Good Soldier" – 3:23
"Vessel" – 4:53
"Me, I'm Not" – 4:52
"Capital G" – 3:50
"My Violent Heart" – 4:14
"The Warning" – 3:39
"God Given" – 3:51
"Meet Your Master" – 4:09
"The Greater Good" – 4:52
"The Great Destroyer" – 3:17
"Another Version of the Truth" – 4:09
"In This Twilight" – 3:34
"Zero-Sum" – 6:15

listen to the streaming audio of year zero in it's entirety here.

(sources: wikipedia, nytimes)

Labels: capital g, kelefah sanneh, new york times, nin, nine inch nails, trent reznor, wikipedia, year zero