Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I

Band/Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Year: 2008
Genre: Score, Industrial, Ambient, Instrumental

My Review:
I'm pretty much sure that anyone who would be stopping by my site would have already had this release, but just to be sure, I figure I'll share.

About a year before the time that "The Slip" was released, Trent Reznor had gone somewhat silent while in the studio on an experiment with some collaborators. What came out of that experiment was this boxed set. It was just around the time of the "pay-as-you-will" experiments from radiohead and so forth, and long before Reznor went crawling back to the big record labels instead of really doing something revolutionary.

This is the first disk out of a set of 3 disks, so if you love it, spend the 5 dollars to get the full set. There is artwork that comes with the pack, and you aren't really being mislead, the free download is a good quality one.

This album is a gigantic step away from the rest of the Nine Inch Nails discography or radio hits. There are no lyrics except for humming or singing at any point during the full 3 CD set. They are all built like the scores to some non-existant film, and range in emotion and composition from rage filled industrial rock, to ambient pieces that sound nearly meditative.

 Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts

Free Singles - How To Destroy Angels - Keep It together

So I just wanted to share this listening chance, as well as a link to a free download of the first track off the new EP from How To Destroy Angels. The album sounds really good, and if you haven't got a clue what that is all about, it's the band that Trent Reznor paused Nine Inch Nails for. The other members are, his wife Mariqueen Maandig, his common partner in crime, Atticus Ross, and ever faithful art director, Rob Sheridan.


An omen EP_ (2012) by howtodestroyangels
 
Well hopefully that played properly for you. I'm really enjoying the direction that they are going, although I am a fairly die-hard fan of NIN, and most of the creative ventures connected to them.

Heres a link to the opening track, which you can get for free.

How To Destroy Angels - Keep It Together

As well as 2 remix versions.

How To Destroy Angels - Keep It Together (Dave Sitek Remix)
How To Destroy Angels - Keep It Together (Factory Floor Remix)

If you never got a chance to hear their debut EP, then go ahead and download it for free at the bottom of their store page here. It's worth hearing.

http://store.destroyangels.com/

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip

Band/Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Year: 2008
Genre: Industrial rock, Alternative rock, Electronica

My Review:
You might have heard of this band before just a little bit. This was farly and widely publicized, and probably shouldn't be something I go out of my way to post, but it was well worth a review and download. After being around for 20 years, and managing to be incredibly popular, Nine Inch nails released this album as a gift to the fans that had given so much money and love throughout all of those two decades.

This is one of those rare albums that is free, not a promo, and you would hear a song from it on the radio. There was a feel to this album that seems like since Trent Reznor had no monetary incentive behind it and the release, he took liberties and just explored it in whatever way he wanted to. Some big NIN fans were a little harsh on this, especially closer to the end, but I personally enjoy something that shows a growth and a personal touch, especially with what this album represented. It even comes with a collection of artworks, all minimal, ominous, and gritty, representing each track on the album.

The sound is similar in ways to with teeth, using some really strong, hard hitting rockstar sounds, and warping them with a mindblowing expanse of synth hookups, circuit bending mods, post processing edits, and god knows what else. There are a few tracks that harken to the rare "Still" EP that was released with the "And All That Could Have Been" tour video and album, as well as some tracks harkening to the "Ghosts" project released earlier the same year. It isn't the longest album, or maybe the best of their track history, but it really holds its own, especially with the slow down and fade out that it has, and how far it steps from (and around, and within) the rest of the NIN discography.

If you are a fan of Nine Inch Nails, enjoy the gift, and hopefully the band will come out of their retirement and make another album in the future.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip