Trent Reznor has always been a forward thinking dude; even in Nine Inch Nails early incarnations, hits like “Head Like A Hole” and “Closer” were tinged with electronic elements, way before the music industry as a whole embraced this method of production. His latest project, How To Destroy Angels’ Welcome Oblivion LP is a collaborative effort produced by himself and Atticus Ross, spotlighting the vocals of his wife, Mariqueen Maandig Reznor. Dubbed “post-industrial”, this is sort of a stripped down version of the Nine Inch Nails sound, keeping the signature electric vibes in tact, but minus the live, rock sound.
Much like in the scores of both The Social Network and even more-so in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Reznor and Ross insidiously tap into those uncomfortable areas of your subconscious, with off key notes and barely audible effects. Its the antithesis of an overbearing death metal rage or the most offensive dubstep drop, as they go for subtlety over abrasiveness. This is exemplified perfectly on songs like “We Fade Away” and “And The Sky Began To Scream”. It’s done in a such a way, that you can’t tell if it’s normal background noise happening outside of your speakers, or deliberately placed by Reznor to give it that unsettling feeling (“Hallowed Ground”). On more than one occasion you’ll be asking yourself, “was that in the track?”
Its at these moments on a regular Nine Inch Nails album, that once he gotten under your skin, he’d attack you with symphony of electric guitars and live drums. Instead, here he brings the songs to their climax by shifting the volume, taking things from almost muted to severely up-close-and-personal. It’s most finely executed on “Ice Age”, for instance, which seems like a simple acoustic guitar driven track, with a barely audible tone underneath it, one that suddenly reaches it’s zenith as fully-bodied, bass-looming track when one least expects it. We see this again later on “How Long”, armed with a hook that almost startles you by coming in just a few milli-decibles higher than the rest of the track. These unpredictable moments are all over the album, and much of what makes them so are the perfect mixing of the tracks, which sound like they’ve been obsessed over with Dr. Dre-like levels of precision.
Hatched from the same nest as Nine Inch Nails, we do get the Trent’s signature sound all over the record. Tracks like “We Feed Away” and “Keep It Together” find Mr. Reznor providing subdued back-up vocals to Mrs. Reznor’s airy vocals, while others (“Too Late, All Gone”) sound like Trent-penned leftovers from the With Teeth album. That’s a good thing.
How To Destroy Angels is a break from the norm for Nine Inch Nails, as it subtracts the live-instrumentation and harder rock edge, trading it for stripped down electronic beats. With bittersweet, disturbing melodies, and one of the most gorgeous mixdowns we’ve heard in a while, Trent Reznor continues to impress, not to mention reinvent himself. Welcome Oblivion with open arms.