"Year Zero" is a song by the Swedish

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

. The track was released as the second single from the group's second studio album '' Infestissumam''.

Background and release

Tobias Forge Tobias Forge (; born 3 March 1981) is a Swedish singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the leader and primary songwriter of the masked rock band Ghost, performing live as their vocalist under the stage names Papa Emeritus and Cardinal Cop ...

claimed that "Year Zero" and "Zenith" are the only two Ghost songs that he was not the main author of, the two songs instead being the ideas of guitarist Martin Persner. Although, Forge did write the former's lyrics in addition to revising, arranging and giving instrumentation to both. On March 12, 2013, Ghost began providing fans with a free streaming of "Year Zero" if they promoted the band on

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, by endorsing its frontman to be elected the next

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

of the Catholic Church. The 10"

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

version of the single includes the B-side "Orez Raey", which as the title suggests is the A-side played backwards. The single’s cover art is an homage to John Martin’s famous engraving, '' Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council''.

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song directed by Amir Chamdin was unveiled on March 25, 2013. A censored version was uploaded to

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two days later.

Reception

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

'' referred to "Year Zero" as possibly the standout track of ''Infestissumam''. About the song, '' Spin'' wrote that "Satanic-choir hooks flow into comparatively restrained, melodic verses that are somehow even more sinister." ''

Metal Forces ''Metal Forces'' is a British publication founded in 1983 which promotes the music genres heavy metal and hard rock. ''Metal Forces'' was well known for its coverage of unsigned bands through its ''Demolition'' feature and championed the likes of ...

'' called it one of the album's best with its "eerie chants that sound as if they’ve been lifted from the local monastery" and its infectious drum beat. ''Loudwire'' named the "Year Zero" music video the Best Metal Video of 2013, while ''

Revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

'' named it seventh on their list of the year's best in all genres. "Year Zero" and its music video were nominated for Best Metal Song and Best Metal Video in the 2013

Loudwire Music Awards ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

. In 2022, a viral trend on ''

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

'' where users show "cursed" images of their cats or dogs over the opening lyrics of the song ("''Belial Behemoth Beelzebub ...''") garnered tens of millions of views.

Track listing

Personnel

* Papa Emeritus II −

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Nameless Ghouls – all instrumentalists:

lead guitarist Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

rhythm guitarist In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

* Mattias Frisk – artwork

References

External links

Music Video
on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

* {{Ghost Ghost (Swedish band) songs 2012 songs 2013 singles Songs written by Tobias Forge