Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero

Label – Interscope
Year Of Release – 2007

2005's “With Teeth” album seemed to leave a lot of fans a little confused with its slightly more accessible sound and almost modern rock like dynamics and sensibilities. So what does Year Zero have to offer ?

Truth be told, not a lot that’s different. This is still NIN as we know and love Trent Reznor, but the songs are very fucking dull. The format is mostly like “With Teeth.” Accessible, almost catchy at times but using dissonance and feedback every now and then to try and spice things up. However, this doesn’t work. Nine Inch Nails is a great band because Reznor is a terrific songwriter. But for large parts of “Year Zero” Reznor seems intent on borrowing ideas or stealing from his own extensive back catalogue.

“The Good Soldier” is a song where NIN seem to be going for a Massive Attack like vibe with its laid back bass groove, electronic drums and Reznor’s own smooth vocal performance.  This is followed by “Vessel” which seems uncomfortably close to NIN's own “Closer.” “Capital G,” song number 7 on the album sounds quite similar to “Everyday Is Exactly The Same” from “With Teeth.” Reznor also uses lots of electronic samples, buzzes, beeps, drones and dissonance as backing music but the effect is more distraction than enhancement. All of the anger and discontent has disappeared from Reznor’s voice and this is the biggest contributor to the dullness of “Year Zero.” This is a vocal performance that’s been phoned in.

And again and again, as the album progresses, you can’t help but think that you’ve heard these songs before sans the clever use of electronics.

“Year Zero” is one of the disappointments of the year.