YEAR ZERO

With Teeth heralded the most prolific phase of Trent Reznor's career; getting within reach of finally fulfilling his contract with Interscope (a contract he only entered into in order to free himself from TVT, his original record company, and which he had always somewhat resented) clearly seems to have inspired the man because with Year Zero - released in an unprecedently short period of time - he sprints across the finish line to the wonderland of creative freedom awaiting him.

Unfortunately, the album itself feels just a little bit incomplete. The uncharitable might suggest it's little more than a quick knock-off intended to end the Interscope contract without the indignity of a Metal Machine Music-level piss-take, but I actually think Reznor wanted to make a serious effort to make the album work - if he didn't care about it, he wouldn't have put so much effort into the promotional teaser campaign and ARG (alternate reality game) intended to promote the album's concept. Rather, I think the problem with the album is that it isn't constructed to stand alone as a decent piece of music in its own right - it exist to stand at the centre of a multimedia "event". Removed from that context - and most people who come to it at this point in time aren't going to want to have to mess around reading up on the promotional ARG and all that gubbins - it's a decidedly inferior work.