EP Review – How To Destroy Angels: An Omen EP|

Deputy entertainments editor Jack Broughan reviews Trent Reznor’s “other” band

Recently the Nine Inch Nails frontman was splashed over every music publication, blog and word press site, with his announcement that he was collaborating on a new endeavour with Jimmy Iovine and Beats By Dre. While Dre may be familiar to just about everybody on the planet, Iovine is a name that probably passes over the heads of most. Iovine is a producer that’s had his hand in everybody’s career from Bruce Springsteen to Eminem. Perhaps the collaboration will produce the next revolution or maybe it’ll be another run of overpriced headphones. Regardless, it’s been a while since Reznor has been in the media for his musical endeavours. Since his Academy award winning soundtrack for The Social Network in 2010 and with Nine Inch Nails shutting up shop for the time being, it puts Reznor in an interesting light.Much of the source of Reznor’s work for The Social Network was drawn from an earlier Nine Inch Nails record entitled Ghosts I – IV. Sounding more like a Brian Eno record than the Nine Inch Nail’s brand of light faux industrial music, Ghosts is perhaps the most interesting record Reznor has put out to date. Breezy, menacing and chocked with huge soundscapes the record moves from ambient to chugging electronic rhythms with a grace and ease that Reznor’s earlier work never quite seemed to reach. Perhaps it was the prevailing sense of teen angst that Reznor never grew out of lyrically or maybe the hazy malformed political agendas but Ghosts sounds like apex of Reznor’s creative output.Similarly How to Destroy Angels picks up where Reznor left off, sonically at the very least. The band comprising of Atticus Ross, Reznor’s partner for much of the aforementioned records, the pair are joined by Reznor’s wife Mariqueen Mandig. The EP’s opener “Keep it Together” establishes it as a very much Reznor and Atticus Ross sounding record. Staggered, clicks and sharp kicks comprise the track’s drums, which are complimented by a low gut churning synth line. If anything the track’s strong point is it’s subtle but completely menacing atmosphere. The drums are fractured and disjointed, and the melody sits in the lower frequencies of the track, ominous but persistent. However the track and arguably the whole record is completely undercut by Mandig’s vocal’s which stick out like a sore thumb. Sweet but also sounding terribly boring, Mandig seems to mutter over the top of most of the tracks contributing little and often ruining the mood of the tracks.Lyrically Reznor’s knack for writing tacky lyrics rears its familiar head. “Keep it Together” Maandig and Reznor sing “I can’t keep it together” in a staggered drifting manor, as if to illustrate the tracks namesake in a manor that’s so obvious and clichéd I feel like Reznor is jabbing me in the ribs and asking me “Did ya get it?” every time the lyric is repeated. Like the lyrics, the EP on a whole sounds completely lacking. In places, Atticus Ross’ and Reznor’s talents peak out in terms of arrangement and overall tone, but those patches are destroyed by clichéd and totally baffling moments that just don’t seem to fit together. “Ice Age” sounds like a Laura Marling track twisted into something that fits more into Reznor and Atticus’ sonic palette. As great as it sounds, in execution the track just sounds out of place on the EP and at worst sounds completely lazy.     An Omen is a record that has brief fleeting moment of greatness, and propped up by a production duo that are capable of much more. Here’s hoping Reznor and Atticus Ross decide to put out another Ghosts record.