Review: How to Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion
National Music Reviews
How to Destroy Angels
Welcome Oblivion
Columbia
Street: 03.05
How to Destroy Angels = Tool + (DJ? Acucrack x Pigface) + Portishead
With a name referencing an early Coil song and featuring industrial (hair) god Trent Reznor, how could this not be good? Thirteen highly glitchy tracks (and two more on the vinyl release) call to mind mid-1990s industrial with a heavy dose of laid-back trip hop cool beats and most vocals by Mariqueen Maandig (West Indian Girl), who is married to Reznor. Made with long-time Reznor collaborators Atticus Ross (12 Rounds, Error) and Rob Sheridan, the album feels and looks like a soundtrack to a movie involving street-wise computer hackers and parkour chases through gritty urban landscapes, excellent for fans of intelligent instrumental metal and post-industrial. “Ice Age” stands out as an organic folk-alternative track, and “Too Late, All Gone” and “How Long?” are nearly poppy, but the album never falls into a glitzy over-produced trap. Listening to it reminds me of the first time I heard NIN, and thought I was hearing new life being breathed into the dark music world. –Madelyn Boudreaux