4.5.07
3:34 am
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
First full listen.
Convoluted, messy, sloppy.
All blurred together.
HYPERPOWER!- Intro. Not as huge as it could be. Certainly not up there with 'Pinion' as an intro track.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END- Not impressed. Drums and guitars.
SURVIVALISM- Perfect single. Bit repetitive, but it fits.” Hypnotic sound of siren/echoing through the street/the cocking of the rifles/the marching of the feet". Chills.
THE GOOD SOLIDER- Love it. Very standout to me.
VESSEL- Great track. Distinguishable.
ME, I'M NOT- Seems a bit vague. Need to see lyrics. Not very challenging.
CAPITAL G- Has some great elements, but not too standout yet.
MY VIOLENT HEART- A bit lackluster. Content marred by form.
THE WARNING- Blah. Vague. 'Space alien' song. Too sci-fi. Nothing memorable about it.
GOD GIVEN- Another bland flop. Noisefest with little substance.
MEET YOUR MASTER- Remember liking it. Not great, but good. People vs. Govt.
THE GREATER GOOD- 'The Great Collapse' with kalimbas and harp. Too much whispering. Need lyrics.
THE GREAT DESTROYER- Interesting. End with just noise is a bit much.
ANOTHER VERSION OF THE TRUTH- Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.
IN THIS TWILIGHT- Perfect. Could be longer. Love the imagery and the vocals. Standout xmax.
ZERO SUM- Again, too many whispers, although the lyrics I heard didn't sound incredible. End was great though.
Bottom line: I need to hear it about 100,000 more times.
I think that fact that that is my first reaction is promising.
A lot of it just sounds pointlessly messy right now.
Also need lyrics.
Also need part two to see whole picture.
I've never had this negative of a reaction to a NIN album.
Actually was bored with several songs.
I'm sure I'll end up lauding the shit out of it, but for now, not amazed with a lot of it.
5:09 am
(after second listen)
I like it better already.
3:06 pm
(after fourth listen)
More to say:
H- I don't think that this will ever be more than an "intro-mental" to me. Like it a bit more than 'Pilgrimage'. I think that says a lot.
TBOTE- Still meh. Kicks in around the second chorus, but still meh. Sets the tone well, I suppose, but the instrumentation just doesn't do anything for me. What's interesting though is the (comparatively) organic feel of it. This is the only track that has straight drums (intro drums remind me of 'My Sherona') and guitars with a bare minimum of distortion and noise. I guess this is a 2nd intro; with words this time.
S- Just a solid fucking track. Sets the trend of the extended outro that sort of clings to this album...like soap scum in some cases.
TGS- Love the way the words are put together and delivered. Got to say the vibraphone is a strange choice. Not a good choice in my opinion. Also, I could do with more lyrics. Another extended outro, but not annoying.
V- Excellent beat. Verses are a bit clichéd, but then again, so is drug use. The outro on this is WAY too long and just noisy for the sake of noisy.
MIN- I don't get the song yet. Seems to be about someone learning to revolt? Not sure. Need some insight because without it I'm not crazy about this track. Yet another loud and painful outro.
CG- Keeps reminding me of The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson. Only in the way that MIN reminds me of Depeche Mode's 'Home' (as in just the beginning beat). Interesting delivery from Reznor. Almost sounds like a sports chant. The chorus is great, love the chords.
MVH- Grown on me. Still think the music is a bit lacking, but in time I'm sure I'll start calling it "sparse". Like the lyrics. Very civilian army. Very confrontational. Seems to compliment 'Meet Your Master'. Outro is just fine. In other words, not painfully loud and long.
TW- I know I said it was vague. Let me clarify. I suppose what I meant is that it's too straightforward. "We've been watching you. Clean up your act." 'The Warning' is a warning. WHAT the "Presence" is is still vague. Plus the wiggly, slightly country-esque guitar I could do without. I like the treatment done to Reznor's voice.
GG- Another interesting delivery from Reznor. Interesting but not amazing. His exhortations (Come on! Everybody! Sing along!) seem a bit forced, but that might be because I've never heard Reznor exhorting people to do anything like that. For some reason this track makes me think of 'Born Again'. Outro wasn't terrible, but a bit excessive. Also, at one point in the song there is a background noise (like a wibbly-wobbly bass note being sodomized) that is VERY similar to the one in 'Survivalism'. With such a range of sonic blurts and ejaculations, why was this one (or one close to it) repeated? Takes me further out of the song.
MYM- Grown on me. I like the 'spit in your face' delivery. Need to find out what the lyrics are exactly and I'm sure my enjoyment will treble. Problem is every time I hear a song with "Master" being yelled, I hear 'Master of Puppets". And I don't even OWN that album.
TGG- Meh. Still sounds like a beefed up version of 'The Great Collapse' with lyrics, kalimbas and a harp (?). The differences between the instrumental version and the album version aren’t significant enough for me yet. The kalimbas feel like the vibraphone but more jarring. Kalimbas for the sake of kalimbas. The words chanted at the end ("persuasion, coercion, submission, assimilation") give this track some context and credibility.
TGD- I like this a lot. Sort of like MVH and MYM but more personal. The power of one. Great chorus but like a lot of my favorite tracks the meaty part of the song tends to end too soon leaving me with...an annoying and pointless outro. A lot of it feels very Aphex Twin-ish but what is the point? It feels like filler most of the time.
AVOTT- For me, this is just as perfect and as powerful as 'Leaving Hope'. It has such a hopeless, "I've been lied to, used and discarded' feel to it that I find it strange it isn't the last track on the album.
ITT- Only problem with this is that it's too short. Beautiful and terrible like a mushroom cloud. I love Reznor's voice in this. It could be two verses longer. I enjoy the use of the noise that's been a theme in the album, but without it being abrasive and loud. Really an excellent song. VERY cinematic.
ZS- Very solid ending. Very dark. Very inconclusive. Parts of this sound like Peter Gabriel's 'The Drop' (actually a lot of YZ sort of reminds me of his 'Up' album) and the piano reminds me of Thom Yorke's beautiful track 'Analyze'. Like some of the other tracks, I don't think I will be able to fully grasp this one until I see the lyrics.
Bottom line: Already getting better. In the case of the long, blippy, Aphex-y outros, I really can't picture myself getting into those. There's no beautiful piano, haunting violin or delicate vocals hidden beneath them, just more error noises. Who knows?
All of these mini-reviews are, of course, prefaced with the phrase "At This Point".
This is a very good album.
I just need all of me to believe that.
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