TRENT REZNOR AND ATTICUS ROSS / The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

If ever proof was needed that film/music awards are nothing but public masturbation for the artists and industry, then this is it. It's a 173 min 34 sec soundtrack to a 158 min film and I felt every second of that running time go by.
The film was unnecessary. The score is almost unlistenable. Not because it's ambient or drone, I generally like that kind of thing, but because it's uninspired and monotonous. Upping the volume helps to hide the inherent emptiness, but the tedium is inescapable. Some of the track titles sum up the listening experience perfectly: I Can't Take it Anymore; The Same as the Others; The Sound of Forgetting; and the best one of all, The Seconds Drag.

Songs of Note: You're Here; Great Bird of Prey

1 urge to toss it out the window out of 5

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS / An Omen EP (2012)

An Omen is a listless composition from a band that, in trying to distance themselves from the modified NIN sound of the previous E.P., have settled for loop-based emptiness, with little other than the promise of a pay-off to sustain interest. I waited and waited, but the pay-off didn't come.
Reznor is a master of deconstruction, but when putting the separate parts back together again he appears to have lost some of them, and arguably forgotten to use any kind of glue. There's nothing cohesive beneath the surface.

Songs of Note: On the Wing; The Loop Closes

2 layers of apathy out of 5

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS / How to Destroy Angels EP (2010)

HtDA is Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, with Mariqueen Maandig on vocals. Reznor plays it safe most of the time, sticking to what he knows best, which translates to a mix of NIN's own Ghosts (2008) album, albeit with the addition of female vocals, the drone of The Fragile (1999) and the production of With Teeth (2005); the Fur Lined track could fit easily on the latter. The quieter moments, particularly the E.P's closing track, with its haunting piano, are to me the most interesting additions. It's not the departure from NIN that was promised, but it's free from the official site, so, if you're a NIN fan, it's certainly worth a punt.

Songs of Note: The Space in Between; A Drowning

3½ closed narratives out of 5