[MUSIC] Nine Inch Nails new album!!!!!!!

[bad company]

Your getting tarred!

[kait]

aiii. stop spotfining me for going through channels the opposite way. it's happened too many times to count -_-

[bad company]

Your acting strange there.

[the dude]

that's our kait. 8)

[bad company]

Well not like I'm not used to it.

[the dude]

IT'S OUT TODAY AND I HAVE A COPY WAITING FOR ME AT HOME OH MY GOD SWEET SWEET SWEET!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

[Kara_J]

8) *waits for the verdict* 8)

[bad company]

*does the same*

[the dude]

VERDICT

 

the first time i played it, i liked a couple songs, and the rest sort of blurred together a little. the second time around (directly after the first), i started to get a bit more into its groove.

 

it's less melody-based than previous works. it follows a trend started in some songs on "with teeth." th emusic seems to be in many cases a backdrop for his lyrices. there doesn't seem to be the same musical artistry that reznor usually pours into his work, but then again, i may pick up more of the nuances with time.

 

he set out to make, i think, what is very much a concept album. a sort of post-apocalyptic portrait. the art of the jacket, the lyrics, even the music itself (see, already starting to sink in ) are all built around a central idea. that's not uncommon for trent, but i think he deliberately tried to do something like that with this one, whereas i think a lot of other nin albums sort of grew into that.

 

it's not a mindblower like the downward spiral, but then again, what is? if you like nine inch nails, it's something i think can grow on you (it's already growing on me), but by and large it's not for the casual listener; the pop beats don't overcome the odd industrial feel and a-melodic qualities. in a way, you almost have to want to like it, and take it more as an overall work rather than a group of stand-alone songs.

 

i see myself listening to it a lot in the next little while, and i think my appreciation will grow as i "study" it more.

 

lyrically, it's more political than the norm for nin, but still with the existential overtones that are reznor's standard. the political stuff is still veiled behind his trademark esoteric verses.

 

and on a sidenote, they obviously went to a lot of trouble for the overall effect. read up on "Year Zero" on the net to see some of the stunts they pulled in marketing this. And with the album comes a leaflet from the "US Bureau of Morality" saying that "This material has been deemed subversive by the ....." There's a toll-free number listed that I called out of curiosity (the leaflet is a farily obvious joke), and I gotta say, the recording is pretty damned funny.

 

if anyone picks up the album, i recommend calling the number for a good laugh. I won't say any more. and let me just specify here, trent reznor set up a toll-free phone number with a recording, solely for the purpose of adding that extra element to the art. he really went for it with this. it may seem a bit gimmicky, but i like it personally.

 

in summary, as of today, i'll give it a 3.5 out of 5, but i think that score could climb to 4.0 or 4.1. for reference, the downward spiral is 5 out of 5 on my scale.

 

the black album gets 10 out of 5.

 

EDIT: i was just reading up some more stuff on this, and i really encourage any fans to check out the wikipedia article and check out some of the listed links. very very cool. this is an even bigger project than i thought. i am inpressed. new score: 3.8 out of 5.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_%28album%29

[Kara_J]

Nice verdict..I'll get it tomorrow hopefully and see what I think. Clicked on the link you provided..man what a way to market something! :D

[the dude]

yeah, the lengths they went to go far beyond the concept of gimmick into opus.

 

the more i listen to it, the more i like it. seriously, any nin fan who's getting this, make sure you give it a few listens before hammering down an opinion. it grew on me a lot.

 

FINAL SCORE: 4.5/5.0