Year Zero

Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Label: Interscope Records
Release: 2007

Part 1: the backstory behind the concept of “Year Zero”

Year 0 has begun. America has turned into a military dictatorship. It keeps its citizens under control with a drug called Parepin, which it pumps into the water supply under the pretense that it’s an ‘immune system booster for American citizens’. People have chips implanted in their wrists. Nuclear explosions rock the world one after another, and people all over the planet hallucinate a hand of God warning of Judgment Day. A handful of people resist the regime, in secret or in the open, risking liquidation. A group of scientists working on a project to send digital data through time manages, at the last moment, just before special forces break down the lab doors, to send some data 15 years into the past, to 2007, as a warning that this future has to be prevented. A small group of people decides to heed the warning and try to change the future.

A sci-fi post-apocalyptic bedtime story? A movie by the Warchowsky brothers? Nope. This is just the foundation for the latest album by Nine Inch Nails, called Year Zero.

This story started to reveal itself in a very subtle way: on the shirts sold at the spring tour’s shows, some letters in the concert dates were highlighted. An enterprising fan put them together and got IAMTRYINGTOBELIEVE. Add a .com at the end and fans had the first piece of the puzzle. The next pieces were hidden in much tougher riddles. Text buried in website backgrounds, hidden links, ambiguous messages… At the shows, people found USB drives in the bathrooms with mp3 files of tracks from the new album, and a picture of the hand of God was hiding in a spectrogram of sound tacked onto the end of an mp3 file (photo, click HERE). At the ‘listening party’, they handed out promo badges printed with mysterious codes (a different one on each badge), which unlocked new websites telling the story of a terrifying future. Two huge pieces of graffiti with even more clues popped up in Los Angeles and London (photo, click HERE). The video for the new single ‘Survivalism’ was stuffed with little details that helped push the story forward, and last but not least, the album itself, or rather its packaging, is full of secret keys and codes (play it normally in a CD player and the disc lights up thanks to a Thermochrome coating, revealing a binary code).

The story unfolding was about the events that shaped a world full of evil – terrorist attacks, American military might, an ever-growing need to control people… One piece of it was the online diary of someone who had discovered the Parepin conspiracy and stopped drinking water (if you sent an email to the address posted on his site, you got an automated reply in which the author apologized for the lies posted on the website, said he was now drinking water, and told you that you should start drinking it too).

Finally, the site Opensourceresistance.net appeared online, where fans could send in their own artwork on the theme ‘Art Is Resistance’ (the album’s motto, photo, click HERE). The site announced a date, time and place for interested parties to gather – and at the spot of the LA graffiti, fans were met by a black van that handed out about 100 used metal .30 caliber ammo boxes, packed with graffiti stencils, patches, stickers, caps, markers and the like. About 50 of the boxes hid an extra surprise: a mobile phone. A few days later, the lucky ones got a call inviting them to another meeting… There they were met by a bus with the windows completely covered, so they couldn’t see where they were being taken. They were dropped off in front of abandoned warehouses, and in a small hall the leader of the resistance gave them a speech that would knock some sense into even a Slovenian politician. Then the fans had to get into a freight elevator and ride 5 floors down into a basement, in total darkness. And there – lights, a small stage, and on it Nine Inch Nails. 50 fans got a free private gig. 5 songs, mostly from the new album, and then the shock: the lights came on, sirens wailed, and a squad of special forces flooded the room and violently dragged the band off the stage. The fans legged it out of there.

The end of the story was in exactly the same style: from the official nin.com site you could download complete multitrack files for remixing some of the songs. In one of the stems hid a series of spectrogram images – the chosen avatars of some of the most active members of the EchoingTheSound forum (the forum for NIN fans). Whoever cracked the puzzle just had to put together the first letters of those forum members’ names, and got the story’s final web address: Exhibit24.net. It gathers all the material (all the constructed websites) in a fictional trial against Trent Reznor, and all the forum members who actively helped solve the riddles were picked out and thrown onto a list of ‘highly motivated and very intelligent individuals who are known members of the resistance movement’. The site was supposedly put together by the Bureau of Morality, a fictional branch of the American government of the future (photo, click HERE)

All of this is just a small fraction of the most meticulously worked-out Alternate Reality Game (ARG), which Trent Reznor designed as a companion to the album Year Zero. Some media called it a ‘marketing stunt’, but they forgot that only the fans were dedicated enough to follow the game from start to finish, while for regular people it wasn’t interesting, because it was simply too demanding.

Either way, this Alternate Reality Game is a milestone in how a musician communicates with their audience.

Part 2: the album “Year Zero”

Now let’s get to the most important thing about any music album: the music.

With Teeth, the previous album, disappointed most fans quite a bit, both sonically and lyrically, especially since it followed the monumental The Fragile (which, truth be told, would have been pretty hard to top). Year Zero really makes up for the bitter aftertaste With Teeth left behind. Musically and lyrically, Year Zero is a considerable shift from what we’re used to from Trent Reznor. He’s gone back to the layered musical mixing we felt on the older albums (and moved away from the much more rock-oriented With Teeth), but he’s moved from a clean, surgical sound into noise, static and crackle (the second half of The Great Destroyer, for example, is a perfect specimen of Noise). It’s as if he wanted to follow the visual look of the websites telling the story, sonically too: those sites were sent from the future, and thanks to data degradation they look scattered and torn apart; you get exactly the same feeling from the sound.

After With Teeth, which was more or less just a collection of individual songs with no connection between them, we finally got an album again that has a coherent story, a concept, head and tail.

Lyrically, the album is totally new in the NIN discography: instead of introspection we get social criticism, instead of the painful disintegration of the soul we get a call for revolution. Trent has shaken off his old demons (read: drugs and alcohol) and now thinks about the world around him with a sober head. And that world has pissed him off big time.

Part 3: a detailed look at the tracks on “Year Zero”

1. Hipersila! (Hyperpower!)
Military drum… Marching jackboots… Screams of women and children… The heavy hand of dictatorship… A short track, more a buildup of noise and chaos than music… The guitars kick in with distortion, merciless. An intro that tells you there’s no mercy today. In the story, this song belongs at the start, when terrorist forces set off ‘dirty bombs’ and chaos begins. Hyperpower strikes back with all its military might.

2. Začetek konca (The Beginning Of The End)
Hyperpower is building a military dictatorship. Flowing rhythm, guitars creeping in gradually, continuity of sound. There’s no way out, fall in line, because today we walk over corpses. Propaganda, lies, ruthless and brutal politics, getting rid of dissenters. America has seized power and built a nation of intimidation at home.

3. Preživelizem (Survivalism)
FOX network… The track breathes propaganda. Every form of media except the state’s is banned. Lies are spread, truth is twisted, history is rewritten. The song clearly targets America’s national obsession with glorifying itself. It’s a game of survival. With the sound, Trent achieves the same effect as propaganda TV: a rapid-fire bombardment of bombastic effects that numbs the brain.

4. Dobri vojak (The Good Soldier)…
…is ruthless, feels nothing, sees no horror, has no conscience. The only possible explanation is that our good soldier is on drugs prescribed by the state. National propaganda has drilled it into his head that he’s slaughtering in the name of God. He tries to believe, because if he realized what his actions really were, he’d most likely lose his mind. Once again the music follows the trend: suppressed anger, tension, dressed up in a calm, ‘cool’ look… What could possibly be wrong with this world?

5. Plovilo (Vessel)
The first signs of discontent. As the saying goes: you can fool some people forever, you can fool everybody for a while, but you can’t fool everybody forever. Oh my god, can this get any faster? Oh my god, I can’t survive here.

6. Jaz, me ni (Me, I’m Not)
The tension slowly builds. Individuals are starting to realize that something has to change. The track announces the inevitable, with sudden snare hits cutting through the constant, tense bass line, as if to say everyone is getting ready to hit back.

7. Kapitalni G (Capital G)
Let it be known who holds the real power. Money still rules the world. Conscience and morals were forgotten long ago… We couldn’t care less, what the hell do people even have to complain about? You all know you’d love to be in our shoes anyway… The music again illustrates the story’s concept brilliantly – it sounds cool, almost fuck-you swagger, with a simple dance rhythm.

8. Moje nasilno srce (My Violent Heart)
Rebellion. One by one, the people who’ve had enough join forces. Once simple, obedient, afraid… Now devoted fighters for lost freedom. The track is a warning, a declaration of war. You’ve made enough shit, there are too many of us to be stopped. We crawl on our hands and knees, you can’t stop us all. The music is chaotic, just like the organization of resistance movements is chaotic. It hides behind odd guitar riffs and a breakbeat, with no discernible musical theme.

9. Opozorilo (The Warning)
Visions of the ‘hand of God’ reaching out of the clouds. Everyone who saw the phenomenon got the feeling that something is seriously wrong. The message is simple and serious: you humans are a brood that once showed promise, but you sent it all to hell with arrogance and greed, and so we will erase you from the face of the earth. The repeating line carried by guitar, bass and keys leaves no doubt: this is just a message about what’s going to happen, there will be no compromises today.

10. Od boga dano (God Given)
An American dictatorship wouldn’t be complete without being tightly bound to religion. Faith in total superiority over those who think differently, bestowed by the almighty. It’s the excuse for every crime, every lie, an excuse for a social elitism without equal. Only the right faith, the right politics and the right skin color make you a human being; everything else is scrap. The music follows the same trend: self-assured, funky, cool, smug.

11. Spoznaj svojega gospodarja (Meet Your Master)
The higher they climb, the harder they fall. The head of the dictatorship has fallen, and it’s time for the trial. Every sin of the past will have to be paid for, and the sentence won’t be mercy… With that, the revolution has hit elitism right at its core. ‘Come down’ from your throne, your days are numbered.

12. Širše dobro (The Greater Good)
The dictatorship’s last attempt to hold on to power. Poison slowly rolls through the cities like gas… Breathe us in, slowly, slowly… The half-instrumental track is probably the most ‘tripped-out’ on the album, with a repeating rhythm, pattern, lines and sounds.

13. Veliki uničevalec (The Great Destroyer)
Someone who snaps. He doesn’t care about anything anymore, they’ve taken everything from him. He takes the message of the ‘hand of God’ as his personal mission. He looks like an ordinary guy, unremarkable, harmless, but inside he hides infinite potential. And then… the musical translation of the end of the world. The second half of the song is pure noise. This is how humanity dies. Tip: listen to the album on a surround system with a DTS decoder. Even though the CD was recorded in stereo, 5 seconds of this track are exclusively in the rear speakers.

14. Druga plat resnice (Another Version Of The Truth)
The calm after the storm. A hissing sound dominates, like listening to still life, and over it a tender, melancholy piano. An obituary for humanity. Peace prevails, but at what price?

15. V tem somraku (In This Twilight)
A love song at the end of the world. Let’s watch the last sunset together, and compare it to the burning world… Light and dark are one and the same… The survivors didn’t really survive – in the twilight there’s nothing left but ash.

Anyone willing to invest at least a little time in that should check out www.ninwiki.com, where all the websites and all the side events that make this album so much better are brought together and presented as a sensible whole.

Lineup

Trent Reznor – vocals, performance
William Artope – trumpet on track 7
Matt Demeritt – tenor saxophone on track 7
Jeff/Geoff Gallegos – horn arrangements, baritone saxophone on track 7
Elizabeth Lea – trombone on track 7
Saul Williams – backing vocals on tracks 3 and 6
Josh Freese – drums on tracks 1 and 7

Production

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Track list

1. Hyperpower
2. Beginning Of The End
3. Survivalism
4. Good Soldier
5. Vessel
6. Me I’m Not
7. Capital G
8. My Violent Heart
9. Warning
10. God Given
11. Meet Your Master
12. Greater Good
13. Great Destroyer
14. Another Version Of The Truth
15. In This Twilight
16. Zero Sum

Running time: 63.42