Nine Inch Nails
Ghosts I-IV
(Null)
KKK
Trent Reznor sneaks out mammoth instrumental
collection
WITH NO advance notice, on March 2 Ghosts 1-1V
suddenly appeared online in its entirety in various downloadable and purchasable
formats. The fervent reaction swiftly crashed the NIN.com servers. Comprised of
36 essentially nameless instrumentals in four nine-track ‘volumes‘, this 15 the
unmistakable work of Trent Reznor, as visionary and contrary as ever.
At 110 minutes, listening to the entire thing
in one sitting is a formidable task, but for the devoted it‘s a rewarding one,
and the volumes all stand equally on their own merits when experienced
separately. In many ways, the music could be viewed as providing soundtracks to
films set in the dystopian future that 2007‘s Year Zero depicted, a strong
cinematic feel uniting the volumes. The moods encapsulated here draw from an
impressively wide palette, from the melancholic warmth of 13 Ghosts II to the
Tom Waits-kidnapped-by cyberpunks of 10 Ghosts II, the disco from hell of 24
Ghosts III, the crunching industrial bludgeon of 31 Ghosts IV, or the
neo-classical drama of 34 Ghosts IV, Reznor assertively refusing to limit himself.
Inevitably, there are a few tracks less
essential than others, and the sheer scale is a little overwhelming, but there
are also bona fide classics, as stirring and evocative as anything released
under the Nine Inch Nails banner.
DOWMLOAD: 13 Ghosts II, 24 Ghosts III.
FOR FANS OF: Muse, Genghis Tron.
Dan Slessor
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