One of the requirements for inclusion on Free Albums Galore is for the album to actually be free. Not only does it have to be monetarily free but also free from any type of registration through giving your name, address, e-mail or any other information that can be used for mailing lists or whatever. I have never made an exception to this rule…until now.

Nine Inch Nails’ new album Ghost I is the first CD of a four album set, appropriately titled Ghosts I-IV and Trent Reznor is giving it away as a audio free download. However you must give an e-mail address to receive the download link. I made the exception because; A) it’s Nine Inch Nails and B) the album is Creative Common licensed allowing for its free distribution for non-commercial purposes. In fact, the album is available in bit-torrent seeds and it is rumored some of those were placed by Treznor himself.

As for the music, it is entirely instrumental. The nine untitled tracks are unmistakenly NIN yet varied in range from an opening track of acoustic piano over ambient electronic sounds to a poly-rhythmic third track to full-throttled industrial (track 4 and 8). My favorite track is number 5 which reminds me of a ultra-dark Ennio Morricon film score. Reznor is never boring and usually eye-opening in his creativity. This album is no exception to that rule.

Ghost I is available in a zip of 320kbps MP3. You can also buy the entire four volume set in either a download or a CD for a very reasonable price. I bought the set and I can attest that all four volumes are excellent and one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. So if you like Ghost I do yourself a favor and buy Ghosts I-IV.

Update: Trent Reznor has placed the entire Ghosts I-IV in the open source section of the Internet Archive. You can download it here. Thanks to Lizzbee who mentioned this in the comments.

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