If you’ve missed out on a previous segment of The Impact Series, check it out here.
I’ve listened to the glitchy, electronica/industrial sounds of Year Zero more than I have almost any other NIN album. It’s not so much driven by singles as it is a fully-realized album – one that, in parts, is their best material.
Do I really think Year Zero is the best album from the mastermind of Trent Reznor? Some days I do. It may not be as important as Pretty Hate Machine or as visceral as The Downward Spiral, but it a fantasticly realized sci-fi concept album. It also showed that Reznor wasn’t even close to losing his creative flair as a musician.
I’ll count this as yet another album that got me through summer school, and school in general. I was always a massive NIN fan, but there’s something about the concept of the album, and the great instrumentals coming together. And great lyrics, too – especially when they foreshadow the economic downturn that happened soon after the album was released. Plus, I beat Super Mario Bros 2 and 3 while listening to it. No wonder it’s carved in the fabric of who I am.
“I used to stand for something, now I’m on my hands and knees.”
If for some reason you’ve never taken in Year Zero in its entirety – vault into the adventure below.
