Albums Of The Year No. 8

And we continue with:

8. Nine Inch Nails- Ghosts I-IV



Most blogs/publications/people in general, seem to be taking to The Slip as their NIN album of choice this year. The Slip is pretty good I admit but, I still think the far far more experimental Ghosts project is infinitely better.

It's a difficult collection obviousy. There's 36 tracks, coming to nearly 2 hours worth of music, no easily discearnable vocals and just track numbers rather than song titles. It's split into 4 parts, not that this really has much effect on the overall package. However, the music contained within is truely superb. There's simple bare piano parts (like track 1) and some electronically driven songs (track 18). There's quiet songs (track 36) and noisy songs (track 4). Yet every song seems individual. You could take any of the songs away from the album and it'd stand legitamately on its own as a fantastic track.

But they all work so well together too. The ambient and dreamy mood of the album (Trent Reznor did say something about the tracks soundtracking dreams) is perfect to get lost in. It could soundtrack your own dreams (and nightmares) and still be entertaining. As for the sections, II is probably the strongest, as it seems to have the greatest variation between sounds. I'd advise not to sit through all 36 tracks in one go (it gets a bit difficult) but take an individual part at a time and the album is just wonderful. Definately worth your time.