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Something else to consider regarding the significance of these releases- NiN also launched an ARG called Year Zero as well, and the album is simply just part of the ARG- Reznor said "What you are now starting to experience [,the ARG,] IS 'year zero'. It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride." Reznor has also called the Year Zero game "a new entertainment form."

So, they also release the individual tracks from the songs of the album, in Garage Band and other formats. Bad ass. But you know what else? This is all part of the game - some of the songs contain hidden pictures, backmasked vocals that lead to website addresses, and there's even morse code on the album.

It is expected that there will be even more hidden goodness available to us now that we can examine the individual tracks. Not only that but holy crap some of these hidden tracks are creepy- the Reaktor instrument in My Violent Heart, for example.

And the heat sensitive label freaked me out, even though I knew it was going to change... that of course revealed another code for the ARG. All the songs seem different after reading up on the ARG. And thats the thing- this album is another concept album, but instead it centers around a fictional future universe rather then being a big metaphor for Trent's own trials and tribulations. Though I'm sure some of those are mixed in too ;)

...(probably) between when this article was submitted and now (here).

But, because Trent GETS IT, it looks like they had a player already lined up, and you can legally listen to the album here (I bet Rob can't wait to get slashdotted :)

Of course the album will leak before it hits the shops. The RI(fucking)AA haven't a clue how to use this to increase sales, so they run around like a headless chicken. Trent decided that since it was going to happen anyway, he might as well be in control as much as possible as to what gets released and when. Makes perfect sense to me from a marketing perspective.

Not only all that, but this album is the best in over a decade (IMHO) - look out for "Vessel" and "The Great Destroyer" (complete with a token nod to The Prophet's Song by Queen :) I think that TGD can best be summed up by (stolen from ETS), "I AM THE GREAT DESTOYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEER-BOOOM-ZOING-BOOOOM-ZOING- BOOOM, CUURr OAOOOOWWW TING TING BOW!" - yep, the noise is back :)

The USB keys were left at concert scenes as clues for the viral promotion/alternate reality game for the upcoming Year Zero album.

The leaked tracks contained hidden messages/images/phone #'s as well as the tracks themselves.

see Here and here for loads more info.

All in in it was a rather creepy little ARG, and clues are still being discovered.

The USB keys were left at concert scenes as clues for the viral promotion/alternate reality game for the upcoming Year Zero album.

The leaked tracks contained hidden messages/images/phone #'s as well as the tracks themselves.

see Here and here for loads more info.

All in in it was a rather creepy little ARG, and clues are still being discovered.

There's a new Nine Inch Nails ARG based around the new concept albums (Year Zero and (possibly?) Year One). It's driving us crazy and the server's are periodically crashing under the load, so I thought I'd try and slashdot the ARG site to see if that helps :)

Here's the torrent to the individual extracted .aiff.

Save you all the trouble from having to do it manually.

Here's a torrent of all the .aiff audio files extracted out of the .sit, for non-Mac users to remix with.

http://www.echoingthesound.org/greg/thtfgbmedia.zi p.torrent

...and the rest: http://www.desult.com/greg/thtfgbextra.zip

All the info can pretty much be found on this thread about it, including some people hosting sites of the remixes, etc.

If you can believe this post, KMFDM may have recorded 12 new tracks for the game. Some more idle speculation here.