Ghosts I - IV

Nine Inch Nails | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 8, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: The Null Corporation
• ASIN: B0015FQZ94
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,375 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #16 in Music > Alternative Rock > Goth & Industrial > Industrial > Alt Industrial

Editorial Reviews

Two CD set by Nine Inch Nails of their 2008 release, Ghosts I - IV, a 36 track instrumental collection. Almost two hours of music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period in the fall of 2007. Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new terrain. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 144 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazon forgot to include the 40 page PDF booklet, March 2, 2008

By 

Melissa Dunphy (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ghosts I-IV (MP3 Download)

What a diverse album! Amazon didn't include the PDF with the download, but you can get it directly from nin.com -- http://ghosts.nin.com/main/pdf

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A soundtrack for daydreams, March 14, 2008

By 

Daniel Maltzman (Arlington, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ghosts I-IV (MP3 Download)

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, infamous for long delays between albums, sure has been productive lately. 2007 saw Reznor release the critically acclaimed "Year Zero" and its' follow-up "Year Zero Remixed." In addition, last year Reznor produced Saul Williams' "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust." Now, out of nowhere, with no advance notice, Reznor is back with NIN's sixth album, the instrumental "Ghosts I-IV."

"A soundtrack for daydreams," is how Reznor sums up the new album...and that, I feel, is the best way to appreciate the new NIN. Rather than listening to this album as background music while driving or doing housework, "Ghosts I-IV" is best appreciated with relaxed, yet concentrated listening. Lie in bed or on the sofa, relaxed, and immerse yourself with this CD. Just sort of daydream--meditate, think about whatever...and let "Ghosts I-IV" be the soundtrack...

And as the mood of the album changes, allow your mood to flow with the album...try to get lost in the music.

Some have commented that "Ghosts I-IV" sounds similar in style to the instrumental music from "The Fragile," (1999) but I don't know if it's all that accurate to say that. While the instrumental music from "the Fragile" sort of held the vocal compositions from that CD together like glue, "Ghosts I-IV" is a little more "out there." It can, therefore, be seen as a mosaic--of several different styles--piano compositions, industrial beats, the avant-garde--all mixed together, with no real dominant flavor overpowering the rest. And while the album is all-over-the-place, treading many territories, everything works; "Ghosts I-IV" takes so many twists-and-turns-its always interesting. At the same time, with almost two hours of music to absorb, "Ghosts I-IV" is best appreciated with repeated listens--to fully appreciate all its' rich textures and intricacy.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album; best music since "The Fragile", March 6, 2008

By 

Wing J. Flanagan (Orlando, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ghosts I-IV (MP3 Download)

Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails (they are more or less synonymous) have been on an amazing creative surge that shows no signs of abating. With Teeth marked a decisive turning point away from navel-gazing and outward to social criticism. Year Zero took it even further, coalescing into a conceptual album every bit as fascinating (in its own way) as anything by Pink Floyd. Now...this.

Anyone who has read my other reviews knows my musical tastes run the gamut from Renaissance to Industrial. There are only two kinds of music in my world - good and bad. Still, I never thought I would hear an album that is at once so eclectic and yet so pure in its artistic persuasion as Ghosts I-IV.

How to describe the music? In 36 tightly structured, highly disciplined instrumental tracks, Reznor and company create a vivid soundscape that begins in melancholy, travels through industrial wastelands, and ends in transcendence. It is an epic song cycle without words, as perfectly constructed as anything by Bartok or Berg - but in a set of styles that defy easy categorization. Frequently ambient, often noisy like the best NIN cuts from years past, the sonic tapestry requires many listenings to absorb. There is real, honest-to-God Classical-type form in this work - repeated motifs, variations, developing ideas that morph unexpectedly.

It's a breathtaking work. Some NIN fans will undoubtedly feel left behind. Others will feel like they have suddenly taken a breath of fresh air.

Approaching his mid-forties, clean, sober, and maturing, Trent Reznor has, I think, only begun to truly come into his own as an artist. It's an amazing thing to behold. Spend the five bucks, download some great tunes, and feel the magic.