Apr 18, 2007






























"I Am Trying To Believe"


Fake "United States Bureau of Morality" warning stickers, hypercolor compact discs, hidden messages on t-shirts, and fake websites up the wazoo (hint: try highlighting the text to make a little sense out of some of the more jumbled sites). Trent Reznor has certainly invested a lot in the viral marketing and gimmickry of his just released concept album, Year Zero. Enough to send NIN and conspiracy theory geeks on a virtual frenzy over the past couple of months anyway. Here is a good resource to keep up with madness. As all this stuff started pouring onto the net, I got a little worried about the quality of the album itself. I mean, all this viral stuff seemed like a hell of a way to keep the attention off the music, right? Wrong. Year Zero is fantastic stuff and contains the best music he's released in over a decade, far better than the spotty With Teeth and more concise and hard-hitting than the unfocused Fragile. I've been a long time NIN fan, going back to the times I saw him on the Closer To God tour and when he shared the stage with a certain Mr. Bowie, but I haven't been this thrilled by his music in quite some time. But, as always, don't just take my word for it... listen for yourself.

Nine Inch Nails - "Vessel" (taken from Year Zero)
"Vessel" is one of the more noisy tracks off the album, devolving into all sorts of digital skips and scratches as the track winds down, but never losing the industrial beat at its core or the frantic sense of confusion it creates.

Nine Inch Nails - "Capital G" (taken from Year Zero)
"Capital G", meanwhile, is a little more accessible song with a strong, persistent beat. Even though the album is set in a not too distant fictional future, its hard to imagine some of these lyrics aiming at anything but the current American administration - this track especially.

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