[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/htda_6690.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Ghosts in the machine.[[note]]Clockwise from top left: Trent Reznor, Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, Rob Sheridan, Atticus Ross.[[/note]]]]

How to Destroy Angels is an {{electronic|Music}} band formed in 2009 by Music/NineInchNails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross alongside vocalist Mariqueen Maandig (Reznor's wife) and longtime NIN art director Rob Sheridan. Alessandro Cortini, a member of NIN's touring lineup, joined the band as touring support in 2013.

[[ShoutOut Named]] [[TitledAfterTheSong after]] Music/{{Coil}}'s first single, HTDA can be said to serve as something of a NIN supergroup but has also established a glitchy, post-industrial, and considerably poppy sound all of its own. The band's visual aesthetic (via promo photos and stage setup) was greatly influenced by Sheridan's passion for video-glitch art.

HTDA formed shortly after both Reznor's announcement of NIN's second official hiatus following the release of ''Music/TheSlip'' and his marriage to Maandig. As of 2013, their recorded output consists of two self-released [=EPs=] (a self-titled 2010 debut and 2012's ''An omen EP_'') and the full-length album ''Welcome oblivion.'' The album was followed by a brief tour...and the news that Reznor would be ending NIN's hiatus and prepping for a fall tour.

HTDA effectively went radio-silent for a number of years as a result, although [[https://www.instagram.com/p/B6FY6yhpkOl/ a cryptic Instagram upload around the end of 2019]] could possibly hint at a return.

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!! This band provides examples of:
* {{Ambient}}[=/=]ElectronicMusic: Certainly more so that most of Nine Inch Nails' output, but still poppier than the Reznor/Ross soundtracks.
* AnonymousBand: Played with. Their band photos (especially after Sheridan joined) are usually glitched-video screen grabs, and in their first tour, they played behind translucent curtains and were obscured by various light projections.
* AutoTune: Employed in much the same manner that {{Music/Radiohead}} used it: to sound entirely inhuman.
* BizarreInstrument: Despite being heavily digital/computer-based musicians, HTDA actively seek out quirky, custom-made analog instruments/controllers to help create their music. [[http://instagram.com/p/Xkj3ZxkKOR/ Here's one.]]
* TheChanteuse
* CrapsackWorld: [[https://vimeo.com/58637996 The video for "How Long?"]]
* CoverVersion: Bryan Ferry's "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" on the soundtrack of the Americanized [[Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo]].
* DroneOfDread
* TheFaceless: Played with during the 2013 tour; for large chunks of the performance, the band were silhouettes.
* KillTheOnesYouLove[=/=]KillItWithFire: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWbfgGDl6XE The video for "The Space Inbetween,"]] which shows Trent and Mariqueen as dead newlyweds in a hotel room - except that Mariqueen's DiesWideOpen corpse is still singing, even as her body catches on fire. Serious horror...
* LetsDuet: Mariqueen and Trent share vocals on some songs, but she is still the band's primary voice.
* LoopedLyrics: A literal example in a song called (fittingly enough) "The Loop Closes."
-->'''The beginning/Is the end/And it/Keeps going/Around again...''' ''(repeat ad infinitum)''
* TheOphelia: Mariqueen's on-stage personna (floor-length white dress with angel sleeves, some mid-song temple dancer moments) evoke this trope.
* TryingNotToCry: During a New Jersey stop on their tour, Mariqueen attempted this while performing "The Ice Age." She was not successful.
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