year zero - 28/100
this album has been pitched as a postapocalyptic police state-themed concept album, a complete departure from trent reznor's earlier work. while it does sound different than with teeth (less guitary), it's far worse. you guys know how i feel about inarticulate and relatively ignorant political statements in the form of thoroughly mediocre music, so this isn't going to be pretty. the fact is that the 'concept' part of the concept album doesn't really have a presence in the actual music. in reality, the only way trent reznor could actually put forth his 'concept' was to explicitly lay it out as narrative outside the context of the album.
the lyrics are the same old trent reznor lyrics (which is already a bad place to start), and he draws several images word for word from past albums. the fact that there's nothing new lyrically is ugly enough, but the fact that these same old lyrics have been repackaged and sold as completely cohesive, insightful, and political commentary is impossible to stomach. i'm guessing that if i were to hand a random passer-by year zero, they'd identify it much more as more angsty poor self-esteem or nondescript and undirected hostility and not at all as some intricate possible future.
the music itself is bland. it's certainly no extraordinary leap from past nine inch nails albums. less distorted guitar. more distorted synths. many songs end with totally incoherent noise, which i'm sure is supposed to make some grand statement. somehow i also get the vibe that this album is just a stale collection of quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes in 4/4 time. there are no unconventional beats to speak of. even the vocals are thoroughly regimented in 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. no metric experimentation. no odd intervals.
if this album has to exist in any capacity, it should have been made an ep maybe half the length of the actual album. so much of it is just so utterly useless, also making the prospect of a follow-up album next year fit for the rolling of the eyes. the concept itself should never have been connected to the music. the story is arrogant, overdone, and a poorly-masked attempt to criticize the current administration. trent reznor was pretty apolitical until the iraq war, throwing the relatively pompous the hand that feeds in to make vague attacks on george bush. consider this entire album his second effort at that exact same goal.
anyone who is fooled into thinking that this album has a story to tell, shows ingenuity, originality, and meaningful political dissent is, well, a fool.
HYPERPOWER! - 15
a pinion rerun, this track is just as useless. gone are the days when trent reznor can get away with building intensity by simply increasing distortion, volume, or number of instruments.
the beginning of the end - 25
boring boring boring MY SHARONA.
survivalism - 30
the hand that feeds remix. eighth note eighth note eighth note.
the good soldier - 40
there's not much to say about a lot of these songs because of how monotonous they are (hence why they should have been condensed into an ep). this song follows along the same lines, although it does flow a bit better than most others, and the vocals are less annoying. lyrics are the same as any other nine inch nails song, so trent reznor had to add 'soldier' to the title and words like 'gun' and 'blood' and 'bomb.'
vessel - 25
initially i thought 'there's no way that horrible noise could persist throughout the entire song.' oh, but it did. see, this could be any nine inch nails song about getting high, but this one's about some governmental superdrug, or whatever wikipedia says follows the storyline. i wouldn't know if trent reznor hadn't screamed it out independently of the music. the point is, the perfect drug is an infinitely better song.
me, i'm not - 33
i don't even know how this song fits into the 'concept.' the lyrics are exactly the same vague, self-loathing lyrics of past albums. on a different note, the rhythm, melody, and vocals of the chorus sound extremely pop musicky. as in like hip hop-influenced pop musicky. it almost makes the song tolerable, but then, random loud noises appear and i go listen to lcd soundsystem.
capital g - 20
i will bet you $20 that this song was written by marilyn manson. it sounds exactly like an antichrist superstar b-side. same pattern of generally two loud highly distorted notes trading off and then moving to another set of two highly distorted notes trading off. not terribly melodic. this song is probably the biggest perpetrator of using exact, word for word imagery from past songs 'haves and the have nots,' 'hands and knees,' etc. etc. and it's the second single. it carries the most laughably childish message since heresy.
my violent heart - 25
i know you're thinking 'i want more songs that end in awful noise.' this one's for you. it's the sort of 'we're the ostracized minority and we're rallying to defeat you' type song. the difference is that the rallying cry during the chorus is hard to take because of the horrible high pitched squeal accompanying it. this song has a basic basic purpose, and there are trillions of better songs that suit that purpose (go listen to you and whose army?)
the warning - 45
i have to admit, the repetitive bass/guitar line, while basic as all hell, is almost catchy. the lyrics are forgettable, as is the rest of the song. this would be on the cut list if year zero were to go into ep mode.
god given - 37
no discernable guitars at all here. trent reznor feels that he doesn't write enough songs about how god is a foolish concept. this song almost has a worthwhile beat, and almost has some worthwhile electronic aspects. but, then the chorus chimes in and all of the sudden it doesn't seem like it takes that much talent. i will give this song credit for having closing instrumentation that isn't just obnoxious noise. it was a nice change of pace.
meet your master - 37
look! it's head like a hole! it even tells you that you're going to get what you deserve! the vocal sort of call and response in the chorus is actually kind of catchy. it's sort of old school-era nine inch nails. kind of broken-ish, or at least as close as this album comes to something like that.
the greater good - 20
this song is just over four minutes and fifty seconds too long. nothing really happens. it could be passed off as sort of a spacey background piece, but it isn't. it's just sort of... there... doing nothing.
the great destroyer - 10
this song sounds like some sort of protools tutorial. the guitar line is woefully out of place, which has to be intentional because it's sort of distortion-free in a song with heavily distorted drum/synth lines. then it degenerates into mindless noise, and i go listen to lcd soundsystem again.
another version of the truth - 40
also gone are the days when sparse piano instrumentation and ambient background noise constitutes an interesting instrumental.
in this twilight - 40
this song almost starts off strong. the vocals almost actually fit the music. unfortunately, it fails to take advantage of its start and really doesn't go anywhere. hey, maybe that's the point or some crap. i guess this song is hopeful or something. trent reznor going into his high register is mildly pleasing, i must say. this song beats itself to death with monotony. p.s. he stole the drums from green day (it's a common rock beat, but it's more fun to think of it as american idiot thievery).
zero sum - 62
this is the most tolerable song on the album. the minimal minimal piano line actually works, as the song doesn't put too much weight on it (like another version of the truth). still nothing interesting rhythmically. the vocals are pushed way to the back, which is good, because i looked up the lyrics and they're just as shitty as the rest of the album. the chorus vocals are alright, as long as you don't mind being chastized.
the moral of this story is that 'sound of silver' is a really good album.
recommended music:
bjork - earth intruders
john mayer - kid a
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