Music to Aid Consciousness – Ghosts V-VI Album Review
Nine Inch Nails finally released their 2020 sequel to the 2008 album Ghosts I-IV. In an inspiring feat, the 32-year-old band reinvents their sonic structure, making one of their best records yet.
One thing that is apparent from the start is that Ghosts V and Ghosts VI are both two vastly different experiences. The eight tracks that make up Ghosts V: Together are designed to be more of a delicate and hopeful arrangement, with track titles such as “Still Right Here” and “Together.” While the 15 tracks of Ghosts VI: Locusts reveals more of an agile and tense side to the double album, with track titles “So Tired,” and “Turn This Off Please.”
As for the inspiration behind making these albums, the band writes on their website, “As the news seems to turn ever more grim by the hour, we’ve found ourselves vacillating wildly between feeling like there may be hope at times to utter despair – often changing minute to minute.” Ghosts V-VI are meant to represent the mood of the listener for when times are either good or bad.
My favorite track on Ghosts V is “Letting Go While Holding on,” an ambient droning track which begins with a late 70s sci-fi synth melody. As the 9-minute track further develops, a kalimba-like sound plays on top of itself with a stacking echo that distracts the listener if only for a moment before slowly fading into the background. The synth exits before the kalimba, leading to the second part of the song. As the background drone becomes more and more clear, it is noticeable that the background noise behind this entire song has been meticulously stacked with vocal lines and reverberation effects added atop each other to create a dense yet light atmosphere.
On the second part, Ghosts VI, tracks like “Just Breathe” create a suffocating feeling with the pressure of ambient noise–almost the polar opposite of Ghosts V. The track starts with sounds of a running faucet and wood creaking, with an oddly-paced low frequency hum to accompany the eerie soundscape. A piano enters shortly after, playing out of tune and dissonant chord progressions before harshly dropping into the background void. The ambience swells as the low pitch sound returns with various sharp screeches. The piano melody then returns only to drop again, as the ambience increasingly swallows more of the track. Sounds of a fence gate screeching along with the sound of tape reels constantly cycling build upon each other as sounds layer on each other by the second. The piano returns and leaves again, leaving the listener hopeful for the next encounter and the ambient tone gets a little brighter, only to fade out to the next track. The sense of longing remains, but the track transitions effortlessly to one after the next, consistently leaving the listener in a dreadful and somber mood.
As musicians, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (the members of Nine Inch Nails) needed to create music “as a means of staying somewhat sane,” the band writes on their website. In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nine Inch Nails’ double album Ghosts V-VI creates a fantastic continuation of their original 2008 album. The atmospheric tones of Ghosts V make them great to work or study to, without being too distracting, and the dark atmosphere of Ghosts VI is perfect for creative inspiration. Overall, this is one of the best Nine Inch Nails albums ever released, with inspiring and tonally unique sound structures playing off each other brilliantly.
If you’d like to listen to the album for free, you can visit their store page to get a direct download.
