Broken | The Downward Spiral | The Fragile | Ghosts series | EP Trilogy
Ghosts I-IV:
- While 8 Ghosts I
is one of the most awesome tracks in the album, it's riddled with harsh electric guitar noises and thunderous drumming in which a YouTube comment admitted that it sounds like an angry mob kicking and screaming in fury while attempting to "break themselves free from the oppressive chains of society." - 15 Ghosts II features an odd but chilling xylophone melody accompained by a sample of a cabinet slamming noise throughout the entire track. As the track progresses, expect yourself getting jumpscared by the crowd screaming repeatedly while being cut short.
- While being quite a Tear Jerker, 34 Ghosts IV suddenly gets really dark in 2:37 mark as you'll hear a droning noise (similar to At The Heart Of It All from "Further Down The Spiral" remix album) while accompained by a bunch of disturbing synths and a filtered percussion.
- 37 Ghosts, one of the Hidden Tracks of Ghosts I-IV. It's easily one of the most unsettling tracks on the album, building into what sounds like a cacophony of distorted, digital screams. Listeners have compared it to an anxiety attack or someone completely losing their mind in musical form, among other things.
Ghosts V: Together:
Even though Ghosts V: Together is meant as a calmer and a more optimistic outlook at the Coronavirus epidemic, it still has plenty of its disturbing moments.- "Together" for most its runtime is a calm ambient soundscape but towards its end, it starts to distort. The sudden change in mood can be quite unnerving to some.
- "With Faith" has an odd sound coming in from the background clashing against the comforting piano
- "Hope We Can Again" also starts off as a pleasant soundscape until it comes crushing done in its midway point with an incredibly LOUD ringing noise attacking the listener at the 3:20 mark, some reported of them their tinnitus being triggered thanks to this.
Ghosts VI: Locusts
Ghosts VI: Locusts may just be the most unsettling NIN release to listen to from beginning to end, focusing on the more pessimistic side of the Coronavirus pandemic. The bulk of its atmosphere comes from creepy pianos and odd samples. While the entire record is an apocalyptic nightmare, many of the tracks stand out in different ways.- "The Cursed Clock" is the album's foreboding overture, racking up anxiety for what's to come.
- Out of all the tracks, "Around Every Corner" best exemplifies the "apocalyptic" descriptor. It paints a picture of wandering through a dark, lonely land where countless people have recently died... and you could be next.
- "Run Like Hell" is the tensest track on the album, capturing the feeling of trying to flee and hide from something... and failing.
- In contrast with rest of the album, "When It Happens (Don't Mind Me)" is cacophonous from beginning to end with a buzzing, distorted beat.
- "Another Crashed Car" is littered with uncomfortable noises heavily relying on samples. One YouTube comment compared it to being alone in a car wreck in the dark.
- Uncomfortable noises make way for uncomfortable music with the next track: "Temp Fix". It feels like a muffled, off-key, uneasy reprise of "17 Ghosts II".
- "Your New Normal" contains a creepy building atmosphere with dark ambient noises covering it. Its building tension is never stopped until the track suddenly ends.
- If the Coronavirus was a monster, it would probably sound something like "Just Breathe". It features what sounds like strange groans which are surrounded by unnerving ambient noises as a soft, simple piano plays on top ever so often. Sometimes it leaves, leaving you alone with the disturbing ambient noises.
- The longest track "Turn This Off Please" takes the cake as it is 13 minutes of absolute terror which gives very little room to breathe.
- "So Tired" has the piano at its harshest and heaviest.
- The album's closing track, "Almost Dawn" begins with a calm, soothing melody with a hint of hope where everything seems to be alright. But then, a heartbeating noise is heard at the 2:48 mark as the distorted, harsh noise starts getting louder and louder while consuming the track until it stops abruptly. And finally, the instruments fade away while leaving the heartbeat alone in the background (while it suddenly stops at the very end of the song).
- Heck, even if you interpret the end of the song as the heartbeat returning to normal, the climax of the song still feels like being a hair's breadth away from death by... something.
