The
follow-up was the conceptually messy, half-superb, half-whinge-fest
album The Fragile. It seems not all was well with a
self destructing Reznor as he spiralled into alcohol and drug
oblivion. That was in 1999. Eight years, a number of remixes
and an average album later he is back with a bang. Gone is the
pretty boy-band looks to be replaced with a pretty-hate-machine,
a skin-headed, angry beefcake. But does this follow-up to the
mundane With Teeth have a sharper bite?
Year
Zero kicks off with ‘Hyperpower’, a Wagner-esque
chanting march, which signals the end of the world according
to the plot of this dark concept album. Next up is ‘The
Beginning of The End’. What strikes first is the tempo
of the song - it’s upbeat! Yes! It’s bloody upbeat!
Finally, Reznor has stopped moaning, or at least he has learned
to hone his anger into something less than that of an aghast
teenager. That song hits you like dynamite and the hits keep
coming from ‘Survivalism’ all the way up to end-track
‘The Greater Good’.
If
the album does manage to hit a bum-note then it definitely comes
with ‘The Great Destroyer’. This song lacks the
appeal of the previous twelve tracks. The synthesizers go completely
into overdrive and it's almost as if Reznor left the studio
for a few minutes and stuck a microphone near an old arcade
coin-op.
Another
element that doesn't work is the concept of the album itself.
It’s a mess with a completely impenetrable storyline.
But these are very minor quibbles when you get fifteen out sixteen
tracks that are brilliant.
It
seems impossible to believe that this is only the sixth original
album Nine Inch Nails have released in a career spanning nineteen-years.
Some put that down to Reznor being a perfectionist, others put
it down to his previous addictions, but it's barely over a year
since their last album With Teeth. Oh well, I guess
it certainly wasn’t writer's block.
Although
With Teeth was a fine album in itself, it left some
listeners slightly disappointed. Many believed that the glory
days of Downward Spiral and The Fragile were
well behind Nine Inch Nails and the only way to go was...ahem...even
further down the spiral.
Although
Year Zero isn't quite as breathtakingly visceral as
Spiral, it eclipses The Fragile and some of the remix
efforts. Year Zero shows maturity with progression
and manages to surprise enough for even the most disillusioned
fan sit up and take notice again.
