Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV Review

Nine Inch Nails, AKA Trent Reznor, has always been unconventional. In 1991 he released Pretty Hate Machine and in a time when the world was embracing Brit-pop and Grunge, Nine Inch Nails were obsessed with mid-80s synth-pop with an industrial edge. The Broken and Fixed EPs reinforced this new sound and three years after the debut, Reznor made The Downward Spiral. In spite of huge critical distaste for the album it remains one of the best examples of the genre and one man’s struggle against the corporate music industry. So this constant rebellion against authority and ’the organisation of free-will’ is not only present in the music but is deep within his soul.

Reznor is portrayed in the media as a pioneer of industrial rock and creator of albums filled with the sound of grinding machinery, electronic feedback and heavy guitars. But it is the ever present instrumental compositions throughout Nine Inch Nail’s work that is intriguing. From Help Me I Am In Hell to the delicate ambience of A Warm Place to the chaotic stomp of Complication to the rebel rousing apocalyptic feedback of Hyperpower, Reznor always returned to the instrumental as a source of safety and solace. So out of nowhere, but hinted at due to the recent internet experiment with Saul Williams, Nine Inch Nails release Ghosts I-IV, a huge 36 song instrumental set available on the internet for $5 with Ghosts I downloadable as a ‘free’ preview. It is what die hard fans have been waiting for…

Ghosts I begins tentatively. Tracks 1-I and 2-I are delicate piano pieces. Only 3-I and 5-I start to sound like minimalist Nine Inch Nails with 4-I going from acoustic to industrial noise. 6-I is something of a surprise, a full four minutes of creepy piano with no discernable breaks. 7-I shows the first signs of something special: two minutes of trademark robotic beats. 8-I is slower but equally striking with layered feedback and a high point with just a few similarities to Visage’s Fade To Grey. 9-I ends the first volume as it started with delicate piano, this time with layered strings and spiky percussion.

Ghosts II is much more audacious as if volume I was a mere warm-up. 10-II is spooky, uneasy and ambient with everything soaked in fuzzy static. 11-II loses the static and is much more minimalist but takes the same approach. Both 12-II and 13-II could have been lifted from the Road To Perdition soundtrack, if the film had been made in the year 3000, and is another highlight. As is 14-II, like 7-I only more direct and controlled. It is one of those tracks that you expect Reznor’s voice to wash over at any point. But of course it never does. The paradoxical child-like samples and juxtaposition screaming and creepy nightmarish atmosphere on 15-II make it a very uneasy listen. 16-II comes back with more electronic beats and driving bass and some rare pseudo-vocal samples. Unfortunately is loses its way and gets messy. 17-II is like a shorter reworking of 6-I with full instrumentation and a different melody. 18-II continues the vibrant electronic theme and ends Ghosts II with a light plodding rhythm, multiple bass lines and a spooky string arrangement. Again like Ghosts I it travels full circle.

Ghosts III kicks off with 19-III, sparsely drum lead and sounding like a futurist computerised stream engine. It’s the sort of thing that infuriates parents the world over. 20-III isn’t much better with a tuneless mess of buzzing feedback. The track picks up in the last minute, building up furiously to a simple piano and a backing that sounds like wasps stuck in a drainpipe. 21-III is more of 1-6, upbeat with a constant swirling backing track. 22-III is playful piano improvisation and drums. 23-III is a continuous buzzsaw of guitars drowning out any tune or melody whereas 24-III is the definitive highlight on Ghosts III sounding produced and polished. It is one of the high points of the whole 26 song collection. Again, rare vocal samples are used against a driving guitar rhythm which builds and slows in equal measure. This is exactly why Nine Inch Nails should be doing this. Annoyingly 25-III loses all this momentum and is empty space, probably the most vacuous piece. 26-III attempt to lift the mood again, drums pounding as guitar and piano fight for a tune. It builds then slows for a disappointing ending. 27-III brings Ghosts III is a strong close, given the bad start. It sounds like an instrumental version of another song from the archives, all twisted metal and crashing percussion.

Ghosts IV starts with one of the longest tracks 28-IV, a slow melodic piece which rises and falls around a stark banjo-esque guitar riff and harpsichord. The duelling guitar ending is controlled and precise. It is not what you expect from an ‘industrial-metal’ band. 29-IV is also very good, with a great Chemical Brothers bounce with all the Nine Inch Nails sound still there. 30-IV is three minutes of sparse tribal drums and slowed down vocal samples leading into the heavy menacing 31-IV, like 23-III with aggression and a tune. Again another wondrous high point with a magnificent speeded up guitar solo. 32-IV couldn’t be more different, another slow melodic plod. It threatens to build at the end but never really does. 33-IV has a similar approach, the squealing guitars and static pumping out a melody between the empty spaces. 34-IV brings back the piano and the banjo from 28-IV. At nearly 6 minutes this is the longest and most complete piece of music on all four volumes. The fantastic deep resonating piano leads into strings and moaning ambience. The track never comes back with such defiance instead choosing to drift away slowly. 35-IV continues the strong finish, a howling guitar riff lifting an otherwise ordinary piece of fuzzy electronica. Ghosts IV ends at Ghosts I started with 36-IV, a simple piano piece.
To treat each track on Ghosts I-IV separately would be a disservice as the whole 36 track collection plays out like a continuous soundtrack. Also trying to assess each volume in terms of sound and style is also a problem as themes entwine and are revisited constantly across the whole set. The soundtrack ebbs and flows - Ghosts I is a good introduction, the start of Ghosts II is strong and wonderful unlike Ghosts III which is messy, inconsistent and unhinged. Ghosts IV ends on a high and is the most consistent of the volumes, providing some of the most complete ‘songs‘.

In recent years Nine Inch Nails has enjoyed a huge return to form, not that the band lost it in the first place, but The Fragile was such a sprawling mess of an album that many people didn’t know what to make of it. With Teeth and Year Zero are the best albums since The Downward Spiral and after flirting yet again with remixes and video (see Y34RZ3r0r3mix3d) after breaking free from Interscope, the world is at Mr. Reznor’s feet. There will be more volumes of Ghosts which can only be a good thing but let’s hope we get this and ‘full Nine Inch Nails’ in equal measure. Ghosts is too good to be a side project.

-- CS