NINE INCH NAILS' entire new album, "Year Zero", is being streamed at the YearZero.nin.com web site (free e-mail registration required in top right hand corner of page).

Due on April 17, "Year Zero" is reportedly the first of two concept albums, the second of which mainman Trent Reznor hopes to finish next year.

Reznor recently told Gigwise.com that the concept behind "Year Zero" was partially inspired by his feelings toward the Bush administration. Reznor explained, "I really wanted to focus on something that was at the forefront of my consciousness which is, as an American, I'm appalled by the behavior of our government, the direction that it has taken and the direction that it's taken everyone else in the world and its arrogance. I decided to write an essay about where the world might be if we continue down the path that we're on with a neo-con-esque government doing whatever it pleases."

"Year Zero" is set 15 years in the future, when a totalitarian right-wing government has taken over the U.S. and is possibly putting drugs in the water supply to sedate the populace while it wages religious war. Reznor added, "There are no concepts in the story that aren't rooted in things that already are happening."

Reznor previously expressed his unhappiness with the current government in "The Hand That Feeds" from 2005's "With Teeth".

NINE INCH NAILS finishes its European tour on April 10 in Finland and has just announced another round of shows on that continent beginning in August. A trip to Australia and Japan is planned for May. North American dates have not been announced yet.