Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
 

So, have any of you heard the leaked songs? I like them a lot. Trent's gone back to being noisy and I'm digging it. It's a concept album, apparently.

The marketing scheme is pretty wild. I haven't gotten into all the particulars, but it has to do with ARGs and everyone is going nuts trying to play the game and break the clues and all that good stuff. Either way, it's a grand scheme because so many people are talking about the album. There are listening parties coming up as well. The closest to me is NYC, and I think I'm going. I want to hear the whole thing! I still can't believe he's got an album done with only two years gone since With_Teeth came out. Who knew Trent had it in him?

Re: Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
 

Hmmm im indifferent about it . Concept sounds pretty good. My Violent Heart is my favorite of the leaks so far. All 5 of the leaks are a massive step forward from With Teeth. But its still seems like ground hes already covered in some aspects. The song structures are all same too, not much variation. Ill reserve my judgement on the album til I hear the rest.

Re: Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
 

Yeah, it does seem familiar, that's for sure, but in a different way. I don't know. The themes seem to have a different spin this time around, a change in his perspective. Song structure similarity aside, I still like what I've heard so far. It's not like him to be afraid to try something different, but maybe his age has something to do with it. When he was younger, there wasn't so much at stake, career-wise. Maybe he's just feeling a bit worried about his place in the world after all, despite what he said in Only ;).

Re: Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
 

So, I went to the listening party for Year Zero in NYC last night. Well, let's just say the leaks don't do the album justice. The rest of it is quite noisy and aggressive and very rhythm heavy. It's as if he took all the familiar sounds and scapes and mixed them all up. I really loved it. If you want to know more about what I thought, I blogged about it on my myspace. I won't spoil the rest of it :D...

www.myspace.com/sweetcompanion

Re: Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
 

Well its finally leaked, on first impressions im a bit indifferent to it. Hopefully its a grower, alot of really good tracks but a few weak ones too. I had the same feeling first time I heard The Fragile too but now I regard that nearly as high as The Downward Spiral (greatest album ever IMO), so hopefully thats a good sign. Loving The Good Soldier, The Warning and Zero Sum. For anyone that knows what has been said about "I AM THE GREAT DESTROYER" its true. I laughed when I first heard it, but its probably more so to thinking of the comparisons. Eager to hear your thoughts Dogstar.

P.S Year Zero >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> With Teeth

Re: Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero
 

I love it, but then again, I loved The Fragile on the first listen as well. The only track I really don't dig that much is The Beginning of the End. It kind of reminds me of how I felt about The Hand That Feeds. I got tired of that one rather quickly, though it kicked major ass live. I think the songs flow pretty well as a concept album. It doesn't feel disjointed to me at all. A lot of people have complained about the similar-used song structure, but I don't know, I think it works in the context of what Trent's trying to set up. It is like a story told from different points of view. On a purely sonic note, I absolutely love all of the electronic noise. Though it's not new from Trent, I really like the way he's mixed it all up. It's as if he's tossed all those familiar noises up in the air and put them back together in a controlled-chaos sort of way. And, my being a fan of rhythm, I REALLY love the emphasis on bass and drums in this album. It's fucking sexy as hell. I can see myself dancing to this whole album. I'm going to get a great workout.

Vocally, I think it's great the way he twists the music around. There is a lot going on here that I couldn't hear at the listening party because they had the bass turned way the fuck up. He does a lot less shouting/screaming in this and there seems to be way more varying emotions. Could be age, and I mean that in a good way. He's not just railing; he's pointing things out and he's really trying to communicate even more, I think, in a more mature fashion. Oh, and sonically for me, this is a headphones album all the way. That's the only way I've listened to it so far. :D

I totally agree that YZ blows W_T out of the friggin water.