CD of The Week

It's almost impossible to talk about Trent Reznor's How to Destroy Angels without discussing his other project, the recently revived Nine Inch Nails. It's not as though they sound dissimilar--HDA is the logical progression of where Trent's been heading since he started focusing strictly on soundscapes with Ghosts, and later his award-winning film score work with Atticus Ross. You can even say he's been headed in this directing since his 1999 opus, The Fragile. And of course, in light of recent announcements, many will dissect the new HDA album looking for clues as to how NIN will sound looking forward.

That would be defeat the purpose of, you know, actually enjoying this album on its own merits. In that sense, it's not a bad album. If you enjoyed How to Destroy Angels' previous EPs, their debut LP Welcome oblivion isn't far off at all. It's of a piece with Reznor and Ross' comparatively ambient work, especially the last third of the album, with mood pieces like "The loop closes" and "Hallowed ground." They have the same crawling pace you've come to expect, the wailing of Reznor's textured guitars firmly set in the background, ratcheting up the dread.

The bulk of the LP, however, pushes Reznor's wife and lead vocalist Mariqueen Maandig to the fore. It's not a bad decision--Maandig is an appealing vocalist who takes nothing at all away from her husband's arrangements, be it as the soft voice practically woven into the synths on "Keep it together" or the shout at the center of the title track. Still, in those songs and even in my favorite, "Strings and attractors," Maandig is merely one of Reznor's instruments, deployed at will amidst the beeps, strings and glitches. The work as a whole is one of chilly proficiency, lacking the anguished heart (and brutal nerve) of what made Nine Inch Nails so engaging. But again, that doesn't make this a bad album. I do like chilly proficiency, though not as much as I love a beating heart. It's not impossible to enjoy Welcome oblivion on its own. It's just impossible not to think of what else Trent Reznor's doing right now.