How To Destroy Angels: Welcome Oblivion

Whilst he has gone through numerous reinventions throughout his career, it’s safe to assume that Trent Reznor will never release an upbeat party album (though he does thank Deadmau5 on the sleeve for Welcome Oblivion). The debut album from his new project Welcome To Destroy Angels features plenty of sonic experimentation but sticks to the basic Reznor palette: sinister soundscapes, moments of jagged noise and lyrics largely based around variations on “I’m fucked up”.

Still, nobody does sonic destruction quite like Trent Reznor. One of the pleasures – if that’s the word – of listening to a new record of his has always been cataloguing the new and ingenious methods he has conjured of deconstructing and warping sound. He has a genius for taking basically catchy tunes and adding touches to them that make them sound incredibly fresh and exciting (and usually pretty fucking scary).
In the main, Welcome Oblivion sounds like a distress signal from a besieged military outpost somewhere, as telegraphed in opener ‘The Wake Up’, a collage of squalling electro riffs, harmonies and distorted noise. The dark ambience of ‘Keep It Together’ features a near whispered vocal from Reznor’s wife Mariqueen Maandig (one-third of How To Destroy Angels, along with long-term Reznor collaborator Atticus Ross), and classic Reznor-isms like, “I can see right through myself crystal clear... I am disassembling / I could disappear.”
‘And The Sky Began To Scream’ is a bloodcurdling mix of Autechre-like wonky noise and horror movie atmospherics, whilst one of the album’s key tracks, ‘Ice Age’, sees Maandig intoning lines like, “Sometimes the hate in me is keeping me alive” over a soundscape of weirdo electro noise.
Welcome Oblivion clocks in at over an hour. Indeed, Reznor has never been one to take three minutes where six will do, and though tracks like ‘We Fade Away’ (eight mins), ‘Recursive Self Employment’ (6 mins 30) and ‘The Loop Closes’ (5 mins 50) all feature strong moments, the record definitely starts to drag. Nonetheless the seven minute-plus closing track, ‘Hallowed Ground’ – a mix of eerie synths and haunting piano reminiscent of Reznor’s Oscar-winning Social Network score – ensures Welcome Oblivion finishes on a high.
An impressive effort from one of alt. rock’s most gifted mavericks.