06-03-2013, 17:15
online listen
Trent Reznor's latest trip
taking his wife and Sigur Ross along
electronic to my ears
not my thing but it may be yours
1.0 from me and a converted 2.4 from allmusic
from the album - Keep It Together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXSUOjGk6w
released Mar 5th, 2013
![[Image: MI0003495608.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_250/MI0003/495/MI0003495608.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
Bio
Named after a 1984 Coil single, How to Destroy Angels features Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor,
former West Indian Girl singer (and Reznor's wife) Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. Work on
the project began a few months after Nine Inch Nails' final show in September 2009, and the
following spring, the group made their debut with the digital single A Drowning and a video for
the song âThe Space in Between,â which premiered on pitchfork.com that May. Soon after, the
band made their self-titled debut EP -- which was produced by Ross, also NINâs longtime co-
producer -- available as a free download. That July, How to Destroy Angels was released on CD
through the Null label. In 2011, the group contributed a cover of Bryan Ferry's "Is Your Love
Strong Enough" to the soundtrack of the David Fincher film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,
which Reznor scored. The following year, How to Destroy Angels prepared their second release,
An Omen EP, which became their first major-label recording that fall. A full-length album
called Welcome Oblivion appeared in March 2013, just after Reznor announced he was planning to
take a new version of Nine Inch Nails on the road in 2014.
Album Review
Anybody who paid attention to Trent Reznor's post-Nine Inch Nails project How to Destroy
Angels' two EPs would not be shocked by the coolly meditative nature of their full-length
debut, Welcome Oblivion, but if there happens to be a NIN fan coming to this 2013 LP cold --
odds aren't great, but stranger things have happened -- they're likely to be shocked by how
aggressive this album isn't. This isn't to say Welcome Oblivion is an ambient album or a record
consumed with solipsistic navel-gazing. Rather, How to Destroy Angels frees Reznor to explore
quiet, intricately textured territory with the assistance of longtime collaborator Atticus Ross
and vocalist Mariqueen Maandig, who also is Reznor's wife. Given Reznor's close connections
with Maandig and Ross, it's possible some listeners may view this as a Trent vehicle where his
bandmates are nothing more than sidemen, but How to Destroy Angels is a true collaboration,
with Reznor and Ross sculpting the tracks to fit Maandig's soft, insinuating tones. At times,
the interplay recalls vintage Tricky stripped of menace. HTDA certainly has drama and flirts
with ominous overtones, but ultimately they're not a threatening lot; they're enjoying the
process of creation too much to threaten. Nothing stays stationary on Welcome Oblivion -- even
the quietest moments have things percolating in the background, and when a torrent of sound is
unleashed, it isn't a mere deluge; there is definition, the empty spaces accentuating either
the noisy squiggles or the shimmering, insinuating melodies. And make no mistake, Welcome
Oblivion does have its share of melody, as this isn't merely a collection of sounds: there are
songs here, some as tight as the defiantly new wave "How Long?," and others as elliptical as
the skeletal "Ice Age" -- each are distinguished by their exquisite details and slow,
ingratiating melodies. Welcome Oblivion is not an album that comes on forcefully, and by many
measures, it's the most measured record of Reznor's career, yet it's also his most melodic,
showing that this former angry young man has a design to grow old gracefully.
Track Listing
1. The Wake-Up
2. Keep It Together
3. And the Sky Began to Scream
4. Welcome Oblivion
5. Ice Age
6. On the Wing
7. Too Late, All Gone
8. How Long?
9. Strings and Attractors
10. We Fade Away
11. Recursive Self-Improvement
12. The Loop Closes
13. Hallowed Ground
Trent Reznor's latest trip
taking his wife and Sigur Ross along
electronic to my ears
not my thing but it may be yours
1.0 from me and a converted 2.4 from allmusic
from the album - Keep It Together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoXSUOjGk6w
released Mar 5th, 2013
Bio
Named after a 1984 Coil single, How to Destroy Angels features Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor,
former West Indian Girl singer (and Reznor's wife) Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. Work on
the project began a few months after Nine Inch Nails' final show in September 2009, and the
following spring, the group made their debut with the digital single A Drowning and a video for
the song âThe Space in Between,â which premiered on pitchfork.com that May. Soon after, the
band made their self-titled debut EP -- which was produced by Ross, also NINâs longtime co-
producer -- available as a free download. That July, How to Destroy Angels was released on CD
through the Null label. In 2011, the group contributed a cover of Bryan Ferry's "Is Your Love
Strong Enough" to the soundtrack of the David Fincher film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,
which Reznor scored. The following year, How to Destroy Angels prepared their second release,
An Omen EP, which became their first major-label recording that fall. A full-length album
called Welcome Oblivion appeared in March 2013, just after Reznor announced he was planning to
take a new version of Nine Inch Nails on the road in 2014.
Album Review
Anybody who paid attention to Trent Reznor's post-Nine Inch Nails project How to Destroy
Angels' two EPs would not be shocked by the coolly meditative nature of their full-length
debut, Welcome Oblivion, but if there happens to be a NIN fan coming to this 2013 LP cold --
odds aren't great, but stranger things have happened -- they're likely to be shocked by how
aggressive this album isn't. This isn't to say Welcome Oblivion is an ambient album or a record
consumed with solipsistic navel-gazing. Rather, How to Destroy Angels frees Reznor to explore
quiet, intricately textured territory with the assistance of longtime collaborator Atticus Ross
and vocalist Mariqueen Maandig, who also is Reznor's wife. Given Reznor's close connections
with Maandig and Ross, it's possible some listeners may view this as a Trent vehicle where his
bandmates are nothing more than sidemen, but How to Destroy Angels is a true collaboration,
with Reznor and Ross sculpting the tracks to fit Maandig's soft, insinuating tones. At times,
the interplay recalls vintage Tricky stripped of menace. HTDA certainly has drama and flirts
with ominous overtones, but ultimately they're not a threatening lot; they're enjoying the
process of creation too much to threaten. Nothing stays stationary on Welcome Oblivion -- even
the quietest moments have things percolating in the background, and when a torrent of sound is
unleashed, it isn't a mere deluge; there is definition, the empty spaces accentuating either
the noisy squiggles or the shimmering, insinuating melodies. And make no mistake, Welcome
Oblivion does have its share of melody, as this isn't merely a collection of sounds: there are
songs here, some as tight as the defiantly new wave "How Long?," and others as elliptical as
the skeletal "Ice Age" -- each are distinguished by their exquisite details and slow,
ingratiating melodies. Welcome Oblivion is not an album that comes on forcefully, and by many
measures, it's the most measured record of Reznor's career, yet it's also his most melodic,
showing that this former angry young man has a design to grow old gracefully.
Track Listing
1. The Wake-Up
2. Keep It Together
3. And the Sky Began to Scream
4. Welcome Oblivion
5. Ice Age
6. On the Wing
7. Too Late, All Gone
8. How Long?
9. Strings and Attractors
10. We Fade Away
11. Recursive Self-Improvement
12. The Loop Closes
13. Hallowed Ground
