Have You Heard... Nine Inch Nails' 'TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)'?

For the last few reviews posted to this blog, I’ve tried to remain super objective in my assessments of each album. Although this line has been blurred a number of times already, for this review in particular, I feel like my fandom of the ‘TRON’ franchise will remove any hope of this review being completely objective. For other fans of the franchise (like me), and fans of Nine Inch Nails, ‘TRON:Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ serves as quite the monumental release. Not only is this the first Nine Inch Nails album in five years, but this soundtrack accompanies the release of the first ‘TRON’ film since 2010’s ‘TRON:Legacy.’ As someone who has been eagerly anticipating this release, I must say that I’m torn on whether or not it lived up to my expectations. 

NIN release?

Before going into the specifics of this soundtrack, I must note that this is by no means a true Nine Inch Nails release. While the album is marketed under that banner, I wouldn’t recommend heading into ‘TRON:Ares’ under the assumption that this a true ‘NIN’ release, akin to their more signature works like ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ (1989), ‘The Downward Spiral’ (1994), or ‘With Teeth’ (2005). Out of the 24 tracks featured during the soundtrack’s hour and seven-minute runtime, ‘As Alive As You Need Me To Be,’ ‘I Know You Can Feel It,’ and ‘Shadow Over Me’ serve as the only real NIN songs present. Darker, more-visceral lyricism - “Here I stand, indiscrete, obsolete, Now I know for sure, Poisoned thoughts infiltrate, eradicate” (Shadow Over Me), combines with aggressive, distorted synths on these tracks to create the same intensity and unease that’s synonymous with NIN’s sound. 

Photo Credit: John Crawford (@kraw - IG), photo reproduced in compliance with Aus Copyright Law

Rather than serving as a traditional, full-band NIN album, the ‘TRON:Ares’ soundtrack exists as another solid addition to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ extensive discography as film composers. One of the duo’s more recent scores was for the 2022 film Challengers and it felt like they adopted the same synth-based foundation from that score for ‘TRON:Ares,’ only this time it felt like they turned the intensity to 11. 

TRON: Ares v TRON: Legacy - Battle of The Soundtracks

This can also be said when comparing this soundtrack to the previous ‘TRON’ soundtrack, released in 2010, composed by Daft Punk. For ‘TRON:Legacy,’ it felt like Daft Punk were aiming to give the fictional world of ‘The Grid’ (fictional location where most of the TRON films take place), the feeling of a utopia. However, with ‘TRON:Ares,’ NIN creates more of a dystopian feel, with those aggressive synths mentioned above, piercing through on majority of the tracks to create a much darker tone in comparison. 

Main Motifs

Out of the three main motifs (or themes) that I noticed throughout my listening, two of them are significantly darker in tone. The motif present within the tracks ‘Init,’ ‘New Directive,’ and ‘Shadow Over Me,’ is led by this low, reverberating synth-line that creates a feeling of disorientation for the listener. The various beeping sounds in the background, as well as the pumping bass add to this feeling, with album opener ‘Init,’ immersing the listener into these feelings of unease and vertigo right from the offset. 

The motif seen in ‘As Alive As You Need Me To Be,’ ‘Infiltrator,’ and ‘Target Identified’ is similar to the one mentioned above, however its intensity sets it apart firmly. The pulsating synth lines that lead these tracks sound extremely distorted, and the dynamic explosions of sound that are featured in these tracks are super successful in creating this insanely intense atmosphere. 

Cinema Score Filler?

Outside of those main motif-led tracks, however, I felt like most of the soundtrack was just standard cinema score filler. Although I don’t think these tracks are bad by any means, I just think that they’re tough to critique without considering the scenes that they’re meant to accompany. When I say that these tracks aren’t bad by any means, I really mean that too, as some of these tracks in particular really highlight how in-sync Reznor and Ross are as a composing duo. 

Standouts

‘In The Image Of’ and ‘Permanence’ are two entries that come to mind here. ‘In The Image Of’ revolves around this huge wall of synth that sweeps across the track for the majority of its duration. When these grandiose synth lines drop, there is a certain dramatic quality that comes with it that creates goosebumps immediately. The gradual dynamic build up to this drop, as well as its eventual fade-out, heightened the emotional impact of this drop, and it really blew me away when I first heard it.

I wanted to highlight ‘Permanence’ here, as it is one of the few entries on this soundtrack that doesn’t revolve around synths as the focal point. Instead, this track is led by these fluttering string melodies, with synth lines only appearing briefly in the background of some sections. The peculiar nature of the string melodies created more feelings of unease, really going to show the wide range of sounds used by Reznor and Ross to create tension during this soundtrack.

Overall, I do think ‘TRON:Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ is an incredibly solid release. The level of sonic detail featured within this soundtrack elevates this album into what I think could be a strong front-runner for best original score at the Oscars next year. With all that being said, however, I do wish this album was released under the duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross alone, rather than as a full Nine Inch Nails release. While NIN’s synonymous grit and intensity shines through at numerous points, the lacking number of more traditional-sounding, more full-band NIN entries left a little to be desired. 

In my anticipation, I expected NIN to create vivid images of a ‘Grid,’ worn down by years of industrial grit. Instead, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross conjured up images of a ‘Grid,’ sharpened by its raging intensity. All-in-all, did we really get what we paid for?