A Review Of 'How To Destroy Angels'

As I can tell from your silent clamoring, you want that obsessively detailed and opinionated breakdown of the How To Destroy Angels EP and you want it last week.

Well, suckle from mine dainty teat, ye hoary and hungry swarm!!

 

The Space In Between

This first track on the EP was released as a music video a few weeks ago. Its purpose, in my mind, as I have said, was to give first time Reznor collaborator and first time Reznor spouse, Mariqueen, some street cred with the cruel and judgmental Nine Inch Nails fans, plus all those jealous girls who are just looking for any ammo with which to take down  Mariqueen.

It's hard trying to detach the imagery of this video from the music, but the fact that I can shows, to me, that it's a pretty good song.

Like most of the lyrics on the EP, they're nothing amazing, although this track stands out a bit in that respect because they have a nice, implicitly eerie feel to them.

Plus that chorus guitar at the end it just massively effective.

That half second right before it floats in is my favorite moment of this song.

A solid start.

 

Parasite

The more music software I download and tinker with, the less impressive HTDA becomes, but there's something to be said for simplicity.

This track has an incredibly simple beat driving it, but it does its job well.

There's also squeals of guitar and electronic feedback throughout but it's all balanced out by Atticus Ross' bass, which cuts cleanly through the noise and gives the whole thing more depth.

The lyrics are sparse and sung by both Reznor and Mariqueen whose voices (thankfully for the longevity of this collaboration) go very well together, her highs and his lows make this sound downright sinister.

Gets a bit repetitive at times, but not intolerably so.

Plus, I could have done with a bridge, but I'm greedy.

One of my favorites on the EP.

 

Fur Lined

In 2005, Nine Inch Nails put out the album 'With Teeth'. On this album was a track with a really straightforward high hat disco sort of beat called 'Only'.

'Fur Lined' is 'Only's gay brother.

The drum beat and guitar sound so similar that comparisons are unavoidable.

This track is the most disparate on the EP, you can really shake your ass to it.

On it, Mariqueen sings about doing and being a drug.

"I can feel it taking hold/now I am an animal/now I am a chemical"

The first two thirds of the track aren't anything amazing, but the outro, fraught with bass, synths and guitar, gives it a little more staying power.

 

BBB

This track has a great electronic beat that is deliciously ominous and dark. It goes perfectly with the lyrics (which might be a coda to 'Survivalism' or maybe a few thoughts from the enemy forces on 'Year Zero'?), given as orders and threats. True, they lose a bit of menace being sort of spoken monotonously by Mariqueen (hard to be menacing with that widdle voice of hers...) and whispered by Reznor, but when the beat drops out and the two of them start saying "listen to the sound/of my big black boots" along with a heavy, stomping clatter behind them, it feels straight up invocative: they're coming...

The ending gets to be a little much with the vocals layered and layered, but not a bad track by any means.

 

The Believers

The last track previewed before the EP's release, it sounds very old and sacred thanks to the instrumentation, and the lyrics add an element of cultishness and danger to the mix. It definitely drones on a bit without much else but the beat and some hymn-like warbling synths.

Probably the weakest track on the EP, but interesting nonetheless; a good sound if not a good song.

 

A Drowning

Oddly enough, the last track on the EP is the first track HTDA revealed to the world. The beat is very stark, as is the bass, piano and lyrics. The entire song is very quiet until the chorus brings about a soft, deep, oceanic guitar that adds to the theme of the song. The extended ending features a guitar solo, layered vocals and that same guitar, all working very well in tandem. The very end is the fading oceanic guitar and few notes plinked on the piano, a fitting end to the song and the EP.

 

In the end, the EP does what it's supposed to: it introduces and raises awareness of How To Destroy Angels and makes people hungry for more.

In response to people asking what, exactly, this EP is, Reznor says this is just an artifact of their first collaboration.

He says that, as the three continue to work and find the best ways to combine their abilities and creative chemistry, more music will be made and they hope to have a full album out in Q1 of 2011.

Although I do think the EP does what it's meant to, I hope that, as they discover more during their collaboration, that they maybe branch out a bit, instrumentally.

There's not a drum on this EP, just pre-programmed samples, there's no amazing piano or guitar, just riffs and loops.

After I first compared 'A Drowning' with something from 'Ghosts', I relistened to a few tracks from it and have since changed my mind.

Compared to 'Ghosts', or any other Nine Inch Nails release for that matter; HTDA feels like a side project, something not demanding the full attention, aptitude or dynamism of which Trent Reznor is capable. This isn't a bad thing, it just means there is a lot of work that needs to be done: I want to hear Mariqueen rise above a whisper, fuck that, I want to hear her snarl, hiss and scream, I want to hear a full on duet between her and Reznor, the two of them fighting for control of the music, I want some real drums...played by Josh Freese, and seeing as they now have about six months in which to do it, I hope to see something thicker, deeper and more fully realized. 

All in all, it's a good start, and I'd love to see what happens next.

 

Go download it, it's free and interesting.
How To Destroy Angels free EP

P.S. Since probably 1% of HTDA fans heard about them from somewhere other than a NIN-related source, I feel totally fine comparing it xmax to NIN.
Just a note.