How to destroy angels_
An omen_ EP
Columbia Records
Out: November 13
Trent Reznor does a really good impression of himself. Whether he's tearing at raw flesh with Nine Inch Nails or tinkering around with Atticus Ross on Oscar-winning film projects, his sound—ever changing and evolving as it may be—is still instantly recognizable from a mile or more away. A moody ambient backdrop… coarse industrial beats… half-whispered vocals that turn somber lyrical snippets into majestically bleak mantras… for better or worse, you know Reznor's work when you hear it.
Previously…
Trent Reznor's How to destroy angels_ Drop In-Studio "Keep It Together" Video
So while it feels like a cop out to write off An omen_ (the second EP from How to destroy angels_, Reznor's current musical outlet of choice with wife Mariqueen Maandig, film score compatriot Ross and NIN visual artist Rob Sheridan) as "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with vocals," it's hard not to draw some obvious parallels. "Ice age" (not a Joy Division cover, alas) drops a warm, present Maandig lead vocal ("Sometimes I still believe who I pretend to be…") into a stark, thorny mess of plucked strings and jangling glass bottle percussion that's at once striking and familiar. Lead single "Keep it together" threatens to roar itself to life but never does, riding a comfortable bed of heavy, humming synth bass—there's an interesting sense of clatter to Reznor and Maandig's overlapping chorus vocals, but it's nothing a grinding Year Zero-style drum assault couldn't have accomplished with more immediacy… or bite.
As always, Reznor & Co. know how to strike a mood—whether they're eliciting spacious, post-Blade Runner chills on the instrumental "The sleep of reason produces monsters" (great title) or building abrasive sci-fi orchestral dynamics, as on the gently crunching "On the wing"—but more often than not, there's little else happening. It's ironic that Reznor, who once famously and somewhat controversially dared to make pop songs out of industrial music's bang and clatter palette, has largely ditched traditional song structure—to great effect on his deservedly award-winning David Fincher soundtracks, but without much impact or consequence here. "The loop closes" comes closest to a propulsive, old school groove—even utilizing a very Nine Inch Nails-esque refrain/mantra—but it's quickly doused by the analogue synth noodling of seven-minute closer "Speaking in tongues," a track that, for all its intricate detail (seriously, listen to the whole EP through a pair of Beats headphones if you have some) still seems to drone on for an unnecessary minute or two.
Reznor has yet to make a truly bad record (nitpicking aside, this is still Trent Reznor we're talking about, after all—the man who managed to make "In The Hall Of The Mountain King" totally rock) and An omen_ isn't the first, but it does walk pretty well-worn sonic territory… a complaint that also applied to the first How to destroy angels_ EP, except you could at least grit your teeth and nod your head to that one. It certainly leaves you wanting more, though, which is about all you can say of even the best EPs—so in that sense, HTDA's sophomore half-length is success. The whole lowercase/underscores thing? Not so much.
Grade: B
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