Review: Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts
It’s the silent return of Nine Inch Nails, with the all instrumental and self released Ghosts I-IV. The album is available in five forms. A free trial of 9 songs (Which I’m basing this on, though I do plan on buying the full version), a full download for $5, the 16 page double CD for $10 and then things get really interesting. A four disc set with double CD, a 40 page accompany hardcover and Blu-Ray music DVD with High Definition slide show. Then a $300 version which I can’t quite remember the details of. It’s been so successful that www.nin.com has had to shut down for a while to accommodate the over load of users.
There is good and bad to this record or at least the 9 songs I’ve heard so far. It’s almost two albums in one, but they don’t really go together. The bad stuff first; the one sound Trent and company have achieved is almost like next step in the NIN evolution of music and it is a very good step that makes me excited for the next full length. It’s creative, diverse, aggressive and some how disturbing; everything you would expect from NIN. They are more simple songs that are not driven by syths but decorated by them; making the over sound more raw and intriguing. However, ones gets the sense that words shouldbe there, giving these songs a sense of longing, like they are incomplete. Now I haven’t heard it all yet keep that in mind. The other half is what I have to rave about. Trent Reznor has almost released one of the best ambient/IDM records I have heard in a long time. Next to metal, ambient is my favourite genre and I scour the net at all times trying to find the best of what it has to offer. Remember “A Warm Place” from the The Downward Spiral? How it made you feel safe, and peaceful and well …warm? This album has that only better. It’s ethereal and Eno-esque, but dark without the pretension of someone like Lustmord and other Dark Wave ambient artists (if you don’t them don’t worry). There is a nice balance of lush, vapourous soundscapes with tangible melodies. What jumps to mind is Aphex Twin’s Ambient Selections Vol. 2. It is this half of the record that blew me away and makes want to get the $75 Blu-Ray package.
If your thinking this is another standard Nine Inch Nails record, think again. But this isn’t a record you should ignore, it has a lot to offer any lover of creative music, especially if you like it without vocals. I think represents a turning point for Trent Reznor and may be just what he needed to do get to another musical plateau.
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