Every once in awhile, an album comes along, turns heads and shakes the foundation of the entire music industry.

Trent Reznor and company do it all the time. The founder and core genius behind Nine Inch Nails has produced music that continues to explore new genres and political thought well ahead of its time.

Nine Inch Nails’ latest release Year Zero (also known as Halo 24) is a CD that expands on every traditional sense of a “concept album.” The album is by far one of the largest undertakings by Reznor and one of the best examples of political insight and musical creativity.

The physical aspects of the album alone are worth the price tag. The CD comes in a bizarre case with no cover writing, but merely a strange image seen through a car window. The CD itself is heat sensitive and changes color from black to white when heated. The CD is also tactile. It has an intricate design of 1s and 0s along with the album information.

The back of the album case then gives fans a taste of Reznor’s conceptual art, with a warning from a fictitious “United States Bureau of Morality.” Thus begins the journey into a futuristic world where the album is based. Secret Web sites and messages about this world have been spreading across the Internet.

The convergence of the music with latest technological advances and cryptic messages are truly inspiring, but making sense of all the material is another matter.

One thing is for certain, though. The album does do a good job at delighting fans with the band’s uniqueness. This CD’s content offers a completely new sound, unlike anything on the band’s previous release, With Teeth. Fans of The Downward Spiral and The Fragile will be pleased to find that the album is unstructured in a commercial music sense.

“Hyperpower!” opens the album with a melody without lyrics, but with rather edgy guitar riffs and loud drum beats. It sounds as if it’s a battle cry prior to combat or possibly the backdrop to a tale of futuristic warfare.

Reznor’s familiar voice follows in “The Beginning of the End” in which he sings about the rise and fall of an empire.

Compared to many other tracks, “The Beginning of the End” has the most mainstream sound.

“Survivalism” follows and is the album’s first single.

Unlike “The Beginning of the End,” though, “Survivalism” does not have the same mainstream feel as NIN singles have in the past. The song is more aggressive rock and smashing lyrics than it is harmonic melody.

Similar to the loud lyrics of previous hit “March of the Pigs,” “Survivalism” blares “I got my propaganda/ I got my revisionism/ I got my violence in high def ultra-realism/ All a part of this great nation/ I got my fist/ I got my plan, I got survivalism.”

The political insight in the song is beyond doubt. “The Good Soldier” adds even more political opinion with its tale of a soldier’s life. The song is a rather calm and slow, especially midway, but still includes meaningful lyrics and a catchy sound.

The album then hits a louder point with Reznor’s amazing electronic effects in “Vessel,” which has that trademark raw sound that permeates nearly every Nine Inch Nails album.

“Me, I’m Not” changes the album’s tone once again with unique sound effects and little singing. This track pushes the boundaries of industrial rock and psychedelic electronica.

Drum beats fill the air in “Capital G,” which is an obvious reference to President George W. Bush. The catchy beat and grungy chorus make this song another winner and another opportunity for a single.

“My Violent Heart” serves as somewhat of an intermission track until its end, where the raw sound of Reznor’s mixing abilities explode. The sound begins to take an almost eclectic path that is both unique and a new direction for Nine Inch Nails.

The same eclectic hard rock is found in “The Warning,” which mixes great drum beats with soft lyrics and guitar bends.

The album isn’t all about pushing the limits of modern rock and electronica, though. “God Given” brings the band’s sound back to its early days of Pretty Hate Machine, as the ’80s sound of electronica blends with pounding lyrics. This track is a real treat for fans of the band’s earlier material.

As soon as this visit down memory lane is over, Year Zero returns to its guitar-driven sound in “Meet Your Master.” Here, the guitar riffs, combined with the band’s powerful lyrics, give fans a taste of modern metal combined with industrial influences.

“The Great Good” offers another quieter point on the album before it breaks into “The Great Destroyer,” another catchy track filled with a straightforward sound until the end where Reznor showcases more electronic genius.

The final three tracks, “Another Version of The Truth,” “In This Twilight” and “Zero-Sum,” end the album on an emotionally-quiet note. Much like the band’s famous “Hurt,” these songs bring piano together with softer rock to create a meaningful end to the album.

Although the final track, “Zero-Sum,” doesn’t seem to have the same power as “Right Where It Belongs” does on With Teeth, it can still leave fans satisfied.

Overall, Year Zero is an amazing collaboration between Reznor and his band to create a unique world for the album.

The album is a landmark in both Nine Inch Nails’ career and the history of concept albums as we know it. No longer are concept albums limited to just films, concerts and CDs. Whether mainstream fans will accept the album as an evolutionary step in the band’s career is hard to say.

Until further notice, the band will not be touring and the result could be disastrous in terms of gaining new fans.

However, the increase in secret Web sites, messages, etc. has given rise to the hope that more is to come in the future. Perhaps a film or massive concert tour is in order.