(Null Corporation/Shock)

Trent Reznor’s new project from old inspiration

How To Destroy Angels is not only the name of Trent Reznor’s new project with wife Mariqueen Maandig (formerly of West Indian Girls) and longtime NIN collaborator Atticus Ross: it’s also the name of an early single by industrial music pioneers Coil, who themselves formed after the acrimonious dissolution of Peter Christopherson’s old band, Throbbing Gristle. Given that Throbbing Gristle set the stage for industrial music as a whole (the genre’s name comes from the name of Throbbing Gristle’s self-founded record label, Industrial Records) and Coil refined that sound into the well-known template, for Reznor to give Coil such a nod with his new project’s name speaks volumes. Not that How To Destroy Angels is industrial-by-numbers, but it does have a crunchier, lower-fi sound than much of his work as NIN, as though Reznor is less enamoured with technology and more prepared to bend it to his will. The beats here are simple, perhaps even stripped-back, but they are meticulously crafted and anchor the songs nicely, especially pulsing number BBB (short, by the way, for “big black boots”). Maandig’s voice is front and centre, which is a good thing, not only to distinguish HTDA’s output from NIN’s sprawling oeuvre, but also because she’s a damn good singer whose breathy vocals drip with menace. Overall, HTDA is a bit of step back for Reznor, but its back-to-basics approach combined with Maandig’s invigorating presence means that it’s the most accessible music Reznor’s made in some time, and a promising start for what I can only hope is a long and fruitful project.

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CHAD PARKHILL

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