How To Destroy Angels

An Omen EP

This review originally ran in AP 293.

How To Destroy Angels’ new EP clocks in at a little over a half-hour, but the scope of the journey feels positively inifinite. The latest from Trent Reznor, Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross comes off even more mechanized than their previous self-titled outing, delving in kosmische ambiance (“The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters”) and random freak-out electronics that sound libidinous (“The Loop Closes”) or destined to soundtrack cult rituals (the Coil-like “Speaking In Tongues”). Ironically enough, for a unit immersed in synthesizers, the high point of the disc—the seven-minute “Ice Age”—features Maandig bemoaning a dead lover while Reznor and Ross pluck various acoustic instruments to create some avant-folk chamber music. If you ever needed proof that great tension can be generated without screaming or dialing an amplifier volume knob all the way up, start here.

Columbia

“Ice Age”