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''Year Zero'' is the sixth studio release by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, ''With Teeth'' (2005). In contrast to the introverted style of songwriting Reznor used on previous records, ''Year Zero'' is a concept album that criticizes contemporary policies of the United States government by presenting a dystopian vision of the year 2022. The album is part of a larger ''Year Zero'' project which includes a remix album, an alternate reality game, and a potential television or film project. The ''Year Zero'' alternate reality game expanded upon the album's fictional storyline by using media such as websites, pre-recorded phone messages, and murals.

Upon its release in April 2007, ''Year Zero'' sold over 187,000 in its first week, and it reached number two on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. The album also received generally positive reviews, many of which were favorable toward the accompanying alternate reality game. ''Year Zero'' produced two singles, "Survivalism" and "Capital G", the latter released as a promotional single. Disputes arose between Reznor and Universal Music Group, parent company of Interscope Records, over the overseas pricing of the album. ''Year Zero'' was the last Nine Inch Nails studio album released on Interscope. In October 2007, Reznor announced that Nine Inch Nails had fulfilled its contractual commitments to Interscope, effectively ending the band's relationship with the label. - Wikipedia

We thought we were losing Trent Reznor for a moment there. 2005's With Teeth was a solid enough collection of his usual angst-y dancepunk, but it sounded like he was taking cues from understudies like the Faint. Here, Trez-Dawg got hyper-conceptual, penning the soundtrack to a "movie that doesn't exist"'"but perhaps someday soon will, in TV series format'"about bioterrorism and the eradication of civil liberties. The angst/dancepunk parts, by the way, are totally kick-ass.

Year Zero, the new Nine Inch Nails, comes with a dystopian near-future sci-fi concept and a viral marketing campaign that Trent Reznor claims is part of the experience of the album. New tracks "My Violent Heart," "Me, I'm Not" and "In This Twilight" have been put on USB jump drives and left in the bathrooms of clubs all over the world. A network of cryptic websites, unlocked by hints hidden on the back of NIN tour t-shirts, detail controversies over the fictional anti-bioterrorism drug Parepin (pumped into the water supply in what may be a post-WWIII "year zero" circa 2022), a street drug known as Opal, the quasi-religious cult that springs up around it and some kind of resistance against the totalitarian government. Another t-shirt design reveals a phone number that offers more clues and "Survivalism," another new track from the album. Oh yeah, there is an album in all of this'"a full-on concept album that Reznor says "could be about the end of the world." (Hey, at least it's not a recovery album!) Something called The Presence, a huge ghostly arm, figures into the cover art and has been electronically hidden in some of the leaked USB tracks. No word on whether The Presence is the enforcing arm of the government, some sort of savior of the people, or something else entirely. A confirmed tracklist reveals big end-of-the-world titles like "The Beginning of the End," "Meet Your Master" and "The Great Destroyer." Reznor's already in talks to put Year Zero's storyline on film, and has called the album "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." Soundwise, Reznor's been talking about Public Enemy producers the Bomb Squad and working with indie-rap icon El-P, though he swears that Year Zero is not a hip-hop record, and that it's "not heavy in any kind of metal type sense." So prepare for a lot of clattering electronic chaos and perhaps a decreased emphasis on guitars. To date, the only confirmed contributors are spoken word/hip-hop artist Saul Williams on "Survivalism" and drummer Josh Freese, with everything else coming from Reznor himself.

Year Zero, the new Nine Inch Nails, comes with a dystopian near-future sci-fi concept and a viral marketing campaign that Trent Reznor claims is part of the experience of the album. New tracks "My Violent Heart," "Me, I'm Not" and "In This Twilight" have been put on USB jump drives and left in the bathrooms of clubs all over the world. A network of cryptic websites, unlocked by hints hidden on the back of NIN tour t-shirts, detail controversies over the fictional anti-bioterrorism drug Parepin (pumped into the water supply in what may be a post-WWIII "year zero" circa 2022), a street drug known as Opal, the quasi-religious cult that springs up around it and some kind of resistance against the totalitarian government. Another t-shirt design reveals a phone number that offers more clues and "Survivalism," another new track from the album. Oh yeah, there is an album in all of this'"a full-on concept album that Reznor says "could be about the end of the world." (Hey, at least it's not a recovery album!) Something called The Presence, a huge ghostly arm, figures into the cover art and has been electronically hidden in some of the leaked USB tracks. No word on whether The Presence is the enforcing arm of the government, some sort of savior of the people, or something else entirely. A confirmed tracklist reveals big end-of-the-world titles like "The Beginning of the End," "Meet Your Master" and "The Great Destroyer." Reznor's already in talks to put Year Zero's storyline on film, and has called the album "the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." Soundwise, Reznor's been talking about Public Enemy producers the Bomb Squad and working with indie-rap icon El-P, though he swears that Year Zero is not a hip-hop record, and that it's "not heavy in any kind of metal type sense." So prepare for a lot of clattering electronic chaos and perhaps a decreased emphasis on guitars. To date, the only confirmed contributors are spoken word/hip-hop artist Saul Williams on "Survivalism" and drummer Josh Freese, with everything else coming from Reznor himself.