After a few years, a couple of just-okay EPs and a handful of teasers, How To Destroy Angels is finally on the cusp of releasing Welcome Oblivion, their debut album. For those unfamiliar with the line-up, HTDA is comprised of Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor along with his wife Mariqueen, as well as frequent Reznor collaborators Rob Sheridan and Atticus Ross.
Those with a knowledge of Reznor's discography will immediately draw parallels between Welcome Oblivion and Year Zero, NIN's 2007 paranoid noise manifesto; the album is rife with the latter's skittery beats and electronoise outbursts. It even sort of reprises that album's quasi-intro HYPERPOWER! as The Wake-Up Call, kicking the album off with a sweet beat and rising tension.
Where Welcome Oblivion differs wildly from Year Zero is, obviously, in the vocal department. Reznor is content to sit back and let his wife handle the bulk of the singing for most of the album. When he does show up in full-on duet form halfway through the album (on the perhaps-too-obvious choice for future single Too Late, All Gone), it's a little shocking. Not because you finally notice him at the forefront vocally on track seven of the album, but perhaps more tellingly because you realize you haven't really missed him that much up to that point. That's probably due to his signature music capably filling in the void his absent voice may have left. Plus, Mariqueen is a good singer, and hearing her coo and seduce over those rather ugly soundscapes lends a nice contrast.
Then, there's Ice Age. What was a cool detour in EP form and by itself is an oasis in the noise desert when taken in the full album context. Its growing surroundings make it less a left turn and more a refreshing break on Welcome Oblivion, its relative quiet slow building with tension while never losing its melodic touch. It's still HTDA's shining moment (in this listener's opinion), now shining just a bit brighter.
Anyone a little underwhelmed by the group's two EPs can take comfort in the fact that Welcome Oblivion is a thoroughly engaging and interesting listen, with plenty of variety to be found thanks to the larger sample size a full album offers. It may not be perfection, and that's hardly ever been the point where Reznor is concerned, but it's surely a joy to hear him setting the movie biz aside for a bit and digging into his old bag of tricks again.
Welcome Oblivion is out March 5 on Columbia. If preordering albums online when there's a variety of formats to choose from is your thing, you can do that here.
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