Wonder of wonders.

The new Nine Inch Nails album, Year Zero, is actually *good.* I'd all but given up on Trent Reznor, especially since I'm no longer the teenage misanthrope who got his faux-industrial groove on to Broken.

It's kinda like when Prince releases a record that isn't completely lame: you're half psyched, half incredulous.

The only song on the disc that sucks is the lead-off single, "Survivalism," whch sounds like a more produced (is that even possible?) version of "Wish" and "March of the Pigs."

You can stream the whole album here and here. You'll need to enter an e-mail address with the first link, ostensibly so you can be dragged into the incredibly complex viral marketing campaign accompanying the release.

Read the Village Voice's early review of Year Zero.

And feel free to make fun of me for being stuck in the '90s. But allow me to say screw you: life was way better back then. Well, not really. But it does seem like there were a lot more quality pop records. 'Cause Connor Oberst can bite me.

Comments

[Murf]

Have you seen this website called Another Version of the Truth? It's supposedly a promotion for the new NIN album but, besides the use of the word "zero", I don't understand how anyone would make that connection without being told specifically that it is for the album.

On the website, if you click and drag your cursor around the page, the picture changes to a much more ominous one.

Here's the post on AdRants where I learned about it. The post has a little bit more of an explanation but I still don't fully understand it.

[jay]

I saw NIN in Saratoga last summer (along with Bauhaus & Peaches--interesting dichotomy of opening acts) and was very impressed. I wasn't really much of a Trent Reznor fan before, but the energy and passion he had for his songs made me revisit his recorded works, and I'm glad I did. I'm looking forward to hearing this new album.

[casey]

I included this link in the original post — it's a NIN wiki that "explains" the Year Zero concept.

This whole new album thing made me go back to The Fragile, which I'd previously dismissed. Maybe it was because I first heard it while working in a noisy record store. Perhaps I was frustrated about how long it took him to release something, and it wasn't as pitch-perfect as Downward Spiral. Either way, nothing grabbed me. I re-checked it out yesterday, and was surprised at how dense, dark and guitar-proggy it was — all flavors I enjoy. Comparitively, his latest sounds contrived. But it still beats With Teeth.