Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV – review

Nine Inch Nails
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Title: Ghosts I-IV
Label: The Null Corporation
Rating: 7/10

NIN line:

Nine Inch Nails presents Ghosts I – IV, a brand new 36 track instrumental collection available right now at nin.com. Almost two hours of new music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period last fall, Ghosts I – IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain.

Trent Reznor explains, “I’ve been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn’t have made sense until this point. This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective – dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams. I’m very pleased with the result and the ability to present it directly to you without interference. I hope you enjoy the first four volumes of Ghosts.”

The review:
There was a time when one of my favorite releases happened to be a techno album. It was the soundtrack for “Fight Club” by the Dust Brothers. NIN’s track “32” and “24” sound eerily similar with their relentless beat that make you feel like your in a movie being chased by a detective who his hell bent on destroying your life. It’s not easy to create sounds with emotion. Reznor does that here and that is what made artists like Mogwai, Prodigy, and Aphex Twin such centers of sound. You can’t really jump in and select one track and put that up against another.

Reznor doesn’t get so far off on a musical bent that he forgets about creating a hook–even without a word to sing. I could close my eyes and imagine a scene either in a movie or point in my life and be absorbed by the music. Reznor is brilliant at writing a soundtrack to the lives of himself and his listeners. And if that wasn’t his intention then you can credit me for making it up.

There are points in the songs, such as with track “23,” where you forget that there are hard-pounding machine produced tracks hellbent on destruction. “23” is a piano and some mechanical strings which is lush and beautiful. Now if someone could just write the movie to Reznor’s soundtrack.

Watch this sweet official NIN video with Trent Reznor:


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Comments

One response to “Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV – review”

  1. John Avatar
    John

    I don’t get this album at all. Why would i want to listen to a nin album without lyrics or singing? i listened to it online and would give it a 1/10.

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