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Year Zero
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Year Zero Image
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 256 Ratings

  • Summary: Trent Reznor offers his vision of a bleak future (the year 2022, to be exact) on this 16-track concept album.

Top Track

Capital G
I pushed a button and elected him to office and uh He pushed a button and he dropped the bomb You pushed a button and can watch it on the... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Los Angeles Times
    100
    "Year Zero" is a total marriage of the pop and gamer aesthetics that unlocks the rusty cages of the music industry and solves some key problems facing rock music as its cultural dominance dissolves into dust. It's easy for even Reznor appreciators to overlook this accomplishment, because "Year Zero" also works as pure pop.
  2. AllMusic
    90
    Year Zero is the finest Nine Inch Nails recording since Downward Spiral. Its songs are memorable, beautifully constructed and articulated.
  3. Sputnikmusic
    80
    Make no mistake this is NIN as usual, but [it is] an effortless, inspired, and unaffected Trent Reznor the likes of which we may not have had the pleasure of knowing for almost a decade and a half.
  4. The New York Times
    70
    “Year Zero” is much more seductive than “With Teeth,” partly because of all the so-called noise.... If all these sounds often distract listeners from Mr. Reznor’s lyrics, well, so much the better.
  5. Austin Chronicle
    67
    Besides a batch of solid singles – electro-punk death march "Survivalism," fiendishly swinging "Capital G" – every so often Year Zero devolves into a feverish barrage of squelches and squalls that comes off as mood music for especially amorous androids.
  6. PopMatters
    60
    Hearing new material from this old warhorse at a time when it’s most needed is damn reassuring; however, it cannot be said, in all honesty, that the music on Year Zero is good.
  7. Spin
    50
    The songs drag in the middle, choruses become interchangeable, and too many tracks end with the same electronic stuttering. [May 2007, p.84]
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User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 108
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 108
  3. Negative: 5 out of 108
  1. CraigC.
    May 29, 2008
    10
    THE best NIN album thus far!
  2. RichardH
    Apr 23, 2007
    10
    I'm not going to compare this CD to the Downward Spiral. I'm not going to liken it to With_Teeth or go on and on about I'm not going to compare this CD to the Downward Spiral. I'm not going to liken it to With_Teeth or go on and on about 'digital hardcore' since I have no idea what that even means. But what I will say about this disk is that it is Reznor's most ambitious outing since The Fragile. And he pulls it off easily. From it's darkest growl to it's softest whisper this disk simply bleeds into you. With each repeated play-through the sounds between the lines of each song have slowly unfurled and I've become completely absorbed in this fictional future that is actually simply a slightly darker depiction of the current status of our world. For fans of the sound that Reznor has been crafting starting with the Fragile this CD should be highly recommended. For fans of the earlier era stuff that have disliked the sound of his more recent work, you may be less thrilled.… Expand
  4. JacksonY
    Apr 13, 2007
    10
    Truly genius. One of the best album made in years. People have never heard anything sound like this before.
  5. RedAFX
    Apr 11, 2012
    10
    Nine Inch Nails' most ambitious offering to date, with a concept based around the future of the human conciousness we see Trent Reznor andNine Inch Nails' most ambitious offering to date, with a concept based around the future of the human conciousness we see Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross exercising their most experimental works into pop/rock anthems, a benchmark for modern music production.… Expand
  6. MichaelB
    Apr 17, 2007
    9
    NIN's new album is quite a departure from the last one. Instead of heavy riffs and crushing beats, the songs blend noise rock with NIN's new album is quite a departure from the last one. Instead of heavy riffs and crushing beats, the songs blend noise rock with downtempo electro. The lyrics paint the picture of a bleak dystopian future run by a fascist government. The vocal work is classic Reznor: dark and full of rage. The album as a whole is great, albeit not near as versatile as records like The Downward Spiral or The Fragile; the songs are all quite similar and tend to blend into one another. That aside, most fans of rock and/or electro will find the album enjoyable, and NIN fans will love it.… Collapse
  7. ErwinK
    Apr 30, 2007
    9
    This is really really good. Probably one of the best political albums even made. Trent has channelled all this anger away from This is really really good. Probably one of the best political albums even made. Trent has channelled all this anger away from self-flagelation into a demonic dystopian view of the future. The first half of the album is full of wicked, spikey, delectible peices of NIN sounds - like broken glass mixed with macadmia nut ice-cream. In the middle of this album you have this track, The Warning, an incredibly spooky track which talks of a messianic alien. Very creepy X-Files. Nice. We are delivered from salvation not by the second coming but by a giant hand coming down from the sky. The second half of the album is more moody and brooding. The final track sounds very David Bowie IMO.… Expand
  8. RingoDingo
    Sep 6, 2007
    0
    Terrible. I guess I bought the non-concept version because mine sucks. No immagery, no hooks, very forgetable. I listed to it twice, tried to Terrible. I guess I bought the non-concept version because mine sucks. No immagery, no hooks, very forgetable. I listed to it twice, tried to make it a third time through but got bored. I then popped in 90's NIN, cried a little, because like Nirvana that music will not be created anymore. Trent isnt dead, just his ideas. You can post masterpiece on a canvas smeared with fecal matter and people will buy it. I guess Trent smeared fecal matter on a mixing console and you all bought it.… Expand

See all 108 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

24
#24 Most Discussed Album of 2007
32
#32 Most Shared Album of 2007

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