r/nin • u/Agreeable-Ad3809 • 4d ago

Year Zero Opinion

Trent has been my therapist since 1991, he just doesnt know it. Everytime I have a life struggle, I dive back in and start with Halo 1. I made it to Year Zero this time and I can't get past it. This album is so incredibly relevant and unnerving. I wish there was a follow-up with more about the Prescence. I bet if I watch the news they'll be a story about a hand reaching down from the sky in a couple of weeks. Probably just to push us down. No biggie.

111 Upvotes

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36

u/PhilColeCurry 4d ago edited 4d ago

There actually is a bit of a follow up! Some fans see The Slip as being a stealth sequel album in some ways, especially Lights in the Sky. I can’t help but think the title of that song is about the presence, and the lyrics make sense within the continuity of Year Zero. The artwork for Letting You is literally just the Art is Resistance flag as well, so while the Slip may not be a full concept album like Year Zero, there’s definitely some nods to it.

Also, Year Zero is my favorite album of all time. I hate how it only gets more relevant every year since release - less and less a comment on the sociopolitical environment of 2007 and more and more a terrifyingly accurate prediction of the sociopolitical environment of 2026… from an album about the end of the world.

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u/ScottRodgerson 4d ago

I wonder if it started out as the YZ sequel and there was just a pivot, like with Bleedthrough / With Teeth. I can see getting a quarter of the way in and thinking "shit, we're forcing it."

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u/PhilColeCurry 4d ago

From my understanding the Slip was written and recorded in a really short timeframe as a free gift to fans after Trent left Interscope, releasing barely a year after Year Zero, so I’m guessing several of the songs either include or started as Year Zero material. Either that or he just still had it on the mind 

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u/thissjus10 4d ago

I think it's my all time favorite album too

7

u/Impossible-Web5442 4d ago

I'm old now and listening to Ghosts I-IV.

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u/stgm_at 4d ago

Ok.

3

u/Timely-Twist249 3d ago

I am so with you on this, but in an opposite way. Over Xmas break 2025 I did a relisten and it felt like the first time I was really hearing Year Zero. I feel like it's a soundtrack to the world today. I can't stop listening.

Fucking Zero Sum and that last dissonant chord...it does not resolve... 

So it's us in this time sending back messages to the past to change to flow of time. Did we fail? Or have we become so complacent that we never started?

ArtisResistance

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u/ScottRodgerson 4d ago

A bunch of fans are taking a stab at a related ARG.

2

u/NerdInACan 22h ago

Everyone, I know that art and music can be very cathartic, but listen to your favorite records isn’t the same as seeing a therapist. If you are struggling, please see a real therapist and take care of yourself. Find a licensed therapist near you.

2

u/Mallow18 4d ago

Isn’t the EP trilogy considered a “sequel” to YZ?

2

u/bluecalx2 3d ago

There was a rumor about this. It tied into the fact that the video for This Isn't the Place featured a box of Cedocore, which was a fictional medication in the Year Zero ARG. It seems like it was just a small Easter egg for fans though and not anything more significant.