I'm going to break my relative silence by writing a long post about something I've recently become passionate about.

The band Nine-Inch Nails has always been on the periphery of my interest. I've known a lot of friends who've liked them and their industrialist-electroinc sound pleases me. Their last album kind of sucked, though, so I hadn't taken the time to become a true fan.

Several months ago, NiN fans began finding mysterious USB keys at concerts. They keys contained never-before heard tracks from a new album, as well as other strange "clues" and links to odd websites. As fans continued their investigation, a story began to take shape. Some people went through some serious detective work, including spectral analysis of audio on the keys. The clues were disparate and numerous, so much so that a Wiki was formed to collect and organize all the information. Although I haven't read through all the data, the story goes something like this:

In the near future, terrorists use biological weapons in an attack against Los Angeles. The results are devastating; millions die. This leads to a further military push against "rogue states", and tighter government restrictions on the U.S. populace at large. Eventually, all Americans are forced to take a drug called Parepin which the government claims "bootstraps" the immune system and galvanizes the body against biological attacks. The U.S. populace becomes increasingly docile and malleable and some begin to realize that Parepin is merely an agent of psychological control.

As western governments tighten their grip on their citizens, the citizens begin to form resistance groups. Islamic terrorists attack more aggressively in response to military incursions. The year zero timeline documents a slow and steady erosion of rights. Elections are suspended. The US begins a new calendar (hence Year Zero) and begins to revise history. Church and state begin to merge. The gap between the rich and poor becomes a gaping chasm. People who openly resist, criticize, or oppose the government disappear to secret prisons in Guam. Humanity's exploitation of the Earth has caused the environment to rapidly decay.

Then, people begin to see The Presence: an ominous, hand-like thing which descends from the sky and speaks, "from inside" those it addresses. It tells them that their chance from redemption is fading, and that if humanity cannot make amends that it shall "wipe this place clean". As more encounters with the Presence occur, it is dismissed as a drug-induced hallucination. Some see it as the embodiment of God.

As a last-ditch effort to save mankind, a group of scientists make use of a resonance property of quantum computing to send data back in time, that could be accessed via our present-day internet (this being NiN's explanation for the mysterious websites). They try to send as much evidence back as possible before they are caught and arrested.

Humanity's downward spiral (pun intended) continues, until one day the Presence follows through with it's pledge, and the apocalypse occurs.

Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails tell the story through their album, Year Zero, which skilfully crafted lyrics and viscerally emotional electronic music. It is a frightening vision of the future, as could only be told by NiN. I applaud them, not only for their honesty but also their artful presentation. If any of you are Nine Inch Nails fans or enjoy electronic music in general I heartily recommend you check this album out.