Nine Inch Nails - "Ghosts I-IV"

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Posted: 3/5/08

Late Sunday night, Trent Reznor quietly joined the ranks of Radiohead and Saul Williams as another artist standing up to the music industry by self-releasing his own music. With no advertisement and only a few teases on Nine Inch Nails' official blog, Reznor dropped a whopping 36 brand-new instrumental tracks, with many different purchasing options for fans to choose from.

The first nine tracks off the new album, titled "Ghosts I-IV," are available for free, while the whole album can be downloaded on Nine Inch Nails' Web site (www.nin.com) for $5, with PDF files of artwork and other extras included as a bonus. For $10, fans can download the whole album and have a hard copy shipped in April. A few pricey special editions are also available for the hardcore fans with plenty of money to spare. The album can be downloaded from amazon.com for $5 as well.

Instrumentals are nothing new to Nine Inch Nail; most of Reznor's past albums feature a few scattered throughout each release. However, last fall, over what Reznor called "an intense 10-week period," he created an album totally void of his regular lyrics and voice of angst.

During the nearly two hours "Ghosts" lasts, Reznor covers a lot of ground. Everything from soft piano pieces to the signature sound of heavy, distorted noise is present, as well as a few surprises musically. A few of the later tracks on "Ghost III" feature groovy bass lines, something usually not heard on a Nails release. While the overall sound is not a complete departure from the one-man-band's signature sound, it is definitely loaded with a few curveballs.

The absence of Reznor's voice is at times quite noticeable after reaching the two-minute mark of a song, as one is still waiting to hear what haunting message will be covered this time. Some of the tracks in the middle get a little too experimental as well.

Despite this, "Ghosts" is a fantastic collection of instrumentals with a great selection of music for any mood. "Ghosts" was made to be dissected into playlists for a sleep mix and any other occasion. With 36 tracks, there is a lot to choose from, especially for the low price.

The release of "Ghosts I-IV" proves that the record labels' days might be numbered. With "Ghosts" already topping amazon.com's download chart and the flood of fans slowing down Nine Inch Nails' Web site to nearly a grinding halt, the album has already made a statement. It will be interesting to see how the record labels try to adapt if more artists continue the trend of self-releasing.

-Brent Busby
edge staff