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Kerrang!Apr 5, 2013Welcome Oblivion confirms that the music world needs a band like How To Destroy Angels, too. [2 Mar 2013, p.50]
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Apr 3, 2013Even though it falls apart towards the end and could stand to cut a few songs, Welcome oblivion is a powerful record, both musically and thematically.
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Apr 2, 2013Welcome Oblivion might have worked with some edits, but ultimately fails as an LP.
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Under The RadarMar 22, 2013Reznor's undeniably present, but Maandig provides a strong focal point. [Mar-Apr 2013, p.92]
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Mar 18, 2013There’s a distinct band lurking here and there, although it may never escape Nine Inch Nails’ shadow.
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Mar 14, 2013Whether you look at this as Reznor, Ross and Maandig’s “first” album or not, Welcome Oblivion depicts How to Destroy Angels as a little adrift, mixing road-weary maturity with rookie mistakes.
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Mar 14, 2013Welcome Oblivion tracks like techno-folk haunter "Ice Age" and the doom-pop jaunt "How Long?" make uncredited cameo appearances in your nightmares until you go insane and eat your own hands.
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Mar 11, 2013Only the overlong ‘Ice Age’ disappoints on a solid, often stunning record.
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Mar 7, 2013The aspirations here are lofty, as always, if less reflective than your average NIN lament; the songs swell, bobble, and even leak from the seams under the pressure.
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Mar 6, 2013In the end, Welcome oblivion is really just three stitched-together pieces used to create a living, breathing, albeit disjointed creature.
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Mar 6, 2013At its best, Welcome Oblivion is undecided and unfocused, with moments of intrigue scattered through songs that wander on an album that rambles. At its worst, Welcome Oblivion is passé and redundant, suggesting recent successes by Salem, Burial, Laurel Halo, Purity Ring, Gold Panda, and a litany of others without improving upon them.
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Mar 5, 2013Much of Welcome to Oblivion feels like a 65-minute placeholder akin to a remix album rather than a major new direction for Reznor to pursue.
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Mar 5, 2013The ace in the hole should be Maandig, so foreign is a female voice in the macho world of NIN's industrial muscle. But her vocals are too often drowned out, often intentionally, by the music.
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Mar 5, 2013Unlike Nine Inch Nails' big radio hits, the majority of the songs here don't brandish catchy hooks or compact slogans designed to grab you in passing. They start out quiet and often stay that way, forcing you to lean in and immerse yourself.
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Mar 5, 2013Reznor still manages to extract melody and an occasional hook from all the noise—a trait that goes all the way back to Nine Inch Nails’ first album.
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Alternative PressMar 4, 2013Confident, unselfconsciously weird and always engaging, Welcome Oblivion is a strange world that will draw you back again and again. [Mar 2013, p.88]
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Mar 4, 2013Welcome Oblivion is not an album that comes on forcefully, and by many measures, it's the most measured record of Reznor's career, yet it's also his most melodic, showing that this former angry young man has a design to grow old gracefully.
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Mar 4, 2013It’s a nice, low-key respite from NIN’s angry catharsis, but 65 mid-tempo minutes with little variation (the sparse acoustics of How Long? aside) make it a slog.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 35 out of 42
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Mixed: 5 out of 42
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Negative: 2 out of 42
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Mar 7, 2013
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Mar 5, 2013
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Mar 6, 2013