(CelebrityAccess) — Industrial rock legends Nine Inch Nails announced the debut of their first new material in more than two years and surprised their fans by the release of not one, but two albums, entirely for free.
The band dropped the new albums, Ghosts V and Ghosts VI via a free download on their website and YouTube and promised that they will be available on streaming services as of tonight.
“Weird times indeed… 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. Although each of us define ourselves as antisocial-types who prefer being on our own, this situation has really made us appreciate the power and need for connection,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross said in a joint statement announcing the release.
“Music – whether listening to it, thinking about it or creating it – has always been the thing that helped us get through anything – good or bad. With that in mind, we decided to burn the midnight oil and complete these new ghosts records as a means of staying somewhat sane,” the statement added.
The music, which strays away from NIN’s industrial roots, seems more in line with experimental soundscape ambient. The first album, Ghost V: Together makes use of sustained notes and dreamy human-like sounds that seem to define space, like listening to a spectral choir in a vast cathedral. The second album, Ghosts VI: Locusts takes a darker approach to its material, relying on ominous sounds that seem fraught with tension and derived from sources that are decidedly non-human.
