With its lyrics written from the perspective of multiple fictitious characters, Reznor described Year Zero as a concept album criticizing the United States government's current policies and how they will affect the world 15 years in the future.
Tekstovi su napisani iz perspective više izmišljenih karaktera, Reznor opisuje “Year Zero” kao konceptualni album koji kritikuje američke vlasti i njihovo upravljanje i kakav će to uticaj imati na svet u budučih 15 godina.