Album review “Ghosts” Volumes 1-4 by Nine Inch Nails
Posted on: March 6, 2008 by: Oxking
Well well well didn’t this come as a surprise! NIN have mentioned fun things in the works for a few weeks now but I don’t think anybody expected new material so close to the brilliant previous release of Y34RZ3r0r3mix3d.
“Ghosts” is a collection of instrumental tracks recorded Autumn (or Fall if you’re a colonial) last year, and is the result of collaborations with many different artists. These include long time NIN member Alan Moulder and Atticus Ross, as well as Dresden Dolls drummer Brian Viglione
Ok enough of the small talk, lets get down to brass tax. All the tracks are numbered and nameless, therefore the collection can be listened to in no particular order. This makes it incredibly difficult to review. Albums without lyrics or song meanings are rare enough. Musically it all sounds Nine Inch Nails. Every track has something familiar enough about it to know that Trent was at the helm. The first track from Ghosts I is a haunting piano piece that weaves beautifully until a haunting air raid siren-esque piece of synth takes over and the track gains a wonderfully apocalyptic feel to it. Track 6 of the same album could easily have been taken from Aphex Twin’s selected Ambient work and track 8 sounds like music to get robot raped to. Think sleazy and machinery and you’ll be there. Track 6 off Ghosts III is classic Hellectro, not too unfamiliar to CombiChrist. This is how varied these albums get.
Although the 4 volumes that are available amount to just under 2 hours and are all instrumental tracks, a fantastic achievement that Trent has got is that none of the tracks sound the same. At all. There is no chance of getting bored either because all the tracks are also very good. Trent is an amazing musician and his various talents are put to the test here. His kept company are also a talented bunch and the collaborations here vary from the eerie to the filthy, the haunting to the mesmerizing. Trent seems to appreciate music as an entity, and that is made clear through these 4 albums. Track 1 off Ghosts 4 has a bloody banjo in it. Don’t worry it’s not duelling.
His methods of releasing the albums are very clever. Download only for now, first album free but pay a small amount for the rest, or a whopping amount if you’re a die hard. This is a very fair way to do it because you need to work out if you’re going to like it before you buy it. Instrumental albums are often hit and miss. Nine Inch Nails are an industrial band, and this is pure industrial music at its most, well, industrial and stripped down to the bone. Trent called it the soundtrack to a daydream, and others have called it music to use in their porn film. Whatever floats your boat. If you only like NIN for their nihilistic, angst ridden anthems, you probably wont like this. If you’re a NIN “weekender” and only listen to them when you’re grinding round handbags every time “Closer” comes on the dancefloor you wont like this, but who cares about people like you anyway? If you appreciate NIN’s diversity and see the band as a musical experience, you should love this. My guess is though, if you’ve stuck with Trent long enough to want to read this, you’re the latter of the bunch. Get the album here my friends.
