Nine Inch Nails (Ghosts era)

NON-METAL

United States

Scores cover the instrumental ambient/dark-ambient Ghosts series: Ghosts I-IV (2008), Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts (2020).

Under the Ghosts banner, Nine Inch Nails set aside industrial rock for near-wordless dark ambient. Ghosts I–IV (2008, self-released, Grammy-nominated) was described by Reznor as "a soundtrack for daydreams," compared to Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. Ghosts V: Together (2020) is warmer and more soothing, likened to Eno and William Basinski; its companion Ghosts VI: Locusts (2020) turns dissonant and "industrialised," built from musique-concrète bleeps and film-noir horns into what one review called "a soundscape of impending collapse."

SCORE PROFILE

JazzyBalkanHardcoreSurfBarbershopDeathBlackTechnicalGlitchTheatricalFolkDoomDroneShoegazeAmbient8-bit
Jazzy0
Balkan0
Hardcore0
Surf0
Barbershop0
Death0
Black0
Technical3
Glitch4
Theatrical1
Folk0
Doom1
Drone5
Shoegaze0
Ambient8
8-bit0

Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.

MEMBERS

CONNECTIONS

same band
label · 15

FURTHER LISTENING

Nearest score profiles in the atlas.

  • Turner-verse / Hydra HeadEI 24
    House of Low Culture
    AmbientDroneGlitch

    House of Low Culture is an American drone/dark ambient and experimental project fronted by Aaron Turner (Isis, Sumac), active since 2000 and named after a song from Isis's Sawblade EP. Its music marries warm cinematic tones with murky, sub-nautical textures, and its lineup has drawn on figures from the wider Hydra Head/experimental-metal orbit. Since 2010 the project has centered on Turner alongside his Mamiffer bandmate and wife Faith Coloccia, with Kevin Micka joining in 2020.

  • Post-metalEI 28
    Tribes of Neurot
    AmbientDroneGlitch

    Tribes of Neurot is an American experimental group formed in 1995 by the members of Neurosis as an ambient, ritual-noise counterpart to that band, weaving tribal structures, drone, musique concrete and manipulated field recordings into abstract soundscapes. Their best-known work, Grace (1999), was conceived as a companion to Neurosis' Times of Grace: built from sounds taken from that album and designed to be played simultaneously with it, synchronizing track by track so the two discs form an enhanced experience neither delivers alone, while still standing on its own. Later conceptual releases include Adaptation and Survival: The Insect Project and Meridian.

  • Turner-verse / Hydra HeadEI 25
    Lotus Eaters
    AmbientDroneGlitch

    Lotus Eaters is an American experimental electroacoustic/drone supergroup formed around 1999, featuring Aaron Turner of Isis, Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), and James Plotkin of OLD and Khanate. Working in a minimal, guitar-and-electronics drone idiom, the trio released the CD Mind Control for Infants (Neurot Recordings, 2002) and Wurmwulv (Troubleman Unlimited, 2007). As the only project shared by Turner and O'Malley, it forms the shortest bridge between the Isis pole and the Sunn O))) pole of the atlas. (Not to be confused with the Liverpool new-wave band The Lotus Eaters.)

  • Turner-verse / Hydra HeadEI 19
    Jodis
    AmbientDrone

    Jodis is a minimal drone/doom trio featuring Aaron Turner (vocals), James Plotkin (guitar) and Tim Wyskida (drums). The band is a modern exploration of restrained sonic minimalism and tonal/textural density, coupling Plotkin and Wyskida's sparse, mercurial rhythmic interplay with Turner's monolithic ambience and distressed vocals. They released two albums on Hydra Head Records: Secret House (2009) and Black Curtain (2012).

  • Patton-verseEI 26
    House of Hayduk
    AmbientGlitchDrone

    House of Hayduk is the solo/collective vehicle of Düreforsög guitarist Mads Heldtberg. Its 2012 debut City of Quartz (Koolarrow Records) is an instrumental record built from analogue synthesizers, dub-inflected bass and free-form percussion, evoking a Blade Runner-style dystopia (the title nods to Mike Davis's book on Los Angeles). Faith No More bassist Billy Gould performs on the record, alongside This Heat's Charles Hayward.

  • Southern Lord / droneEI 32
    KTL
    AmbientDroneGlitch

    KTL was a drone/electronic duo formed in 2006 by guitarist Stephen O'Malley (of Sunn O))) and electronic musician Peter Rehberg (Pita, Editions Mego). The project originated as the score for Gisele Vienne and Dennis Cooper's theatre production Kindertotenlieder, which premiered in Brest, France, in March 2007. Working across drone metal, dark ambient, and noise, the duo released six drone-doom albums between 2006 and 2021 on labels including Editions Mego and Thrill Jockey.

  • Turner-verse / Hydra HeadEI 22
    Doolhof
    AmbientDroneGlitch

    Doolhof (Dutch for 'maze') is an experimental collaboration between Aaron Turner (Sumac, Old Man Gloom, ex-Isis) on guitars and effects, Will Brooks a.k.a. MC dälek of dälek on vocals and electronics, and Belgian audio-visual artist Dennis Tyfus on vocals, tapes and effects. Recorded live at Roadburn Festival 2019 in Tilburg and released by Turner's SIGE Records in 2020, it fuses abstract hip-hop, drone, ambient and noise into immersive, texture-focused long-form pieces.

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  • Turner-verse / Hydra HeadEI 18
    Mamiffer
    AmbientDroneTechnical

    Mamiffer is an American experimental band based in Seattle, Washington, founded in 2007 by Faith Coloccia out of ideas from her former group Everlovely Lightningheart. It began as her solo project and grew into a duo with Aaron Turner (of Isis and Sumac), who became her creative partner and later husband; the two also co-founded SIGE Records. The music intertwines ambient, drone, and post-rock composition with piano and ethereal vocals, and the band is known for collaborative albums and rotating guest musicians.

  • Post-metalEI 25
    Scorn
    AmbientGlitchDrone

    Scorn is an experimental industrial, dub, and isolationist project formed in Birmingham, England, in 1991 by drummer Mick Harris and vocalist/bassist Nic Bullen, both former members of grindcore pioneers Napalm Death. Beginning as an industrial metal band on the 1992 debut Vae Solis, the project rapidly moved away from its metal roots toward dark dub, hip-hop, and post-industrial ambient, notably on 1994's Evanescence. Bullen left in April 1995, after which Harris (also of Painkiller with John Zorn and Bill Laswell) continued Scorn as a solo vehicle focused on extremely low, heavy bass frequencies.

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  • Post-metalEI 12
    Hail Architeuthis!
    AmbientDroneTechnical

    Hail Architeuthis! is a chaotic instrumental metal duo from Bloomington, Indiana, combining technical, prog-metal riffing with cinematic, ambient, and post-rock textures across dynamically extreme compositions. Released a self-titled debut EP in 2009 and a full-length in 2010, both via the Auris Apothecary label.

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