In the years following Reznor’s post-The Slip hiatus, he’s shed many of the indicators of his style — angry vocal delivery, loud guitars — in favor of more subtle soundscapes. And some more of that rock instrumentation colors this record … just not very much of it. Whether middle age and married life have mellowed him out, or this has been a conscious shift, the How To Destroy Angels EP is the most classically Reznor-sounding album he’s made since that vacation. Maandig’s voice has a soulful timbre that her husband lacks, and she uses it to coat these six tracks with the same sleazy self-destruction that made his early albums so engaging. “BBB (Big Black Boots),” for example, takes the “every woman loves a fascist” sentiment of Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” and turns it on its ear to great effect. Later, “A Drowning,” reaches back to the hopeless pleading of The Downward Spiral, but only momentarily.