Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have been living double lives for a good while now. Ever since the duo composed the score for David Fincher’s The Social Network in 2010, they quickly became two of the most in-demand musicians in Hollywood and TV – accompanying everything from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s PBS documentary Vietnam to the more improbable likes of Disney-Pixar’s Soul. Parallel to this, of course, has been Nine Inch Nails’ storied musical legacy continuing to live (T)rent-free in the minds of younger musicians.
Recent years have seen their influence become so pervasive we’ve had 5 Seconds Of Summer pay homage and Miley Cyrus covering Head Like A Hole. Halsey even recruited Trent and Atticus to produce the excellent If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power.
What’s so exciting right now, however, is that these dual lives are finally converging as TRON: Ares pulls the double shift of all double-shifts. Here we have a soundtrack to a blockbuster movie and the first new Nine Inch Nails album in five years all rolled into one. No pressure.
Lead single As Alive As You Need Me To Be – one of four songs to feature Trent’s singing – served as a brilliant declaration of intent. A world apart from where NIN left off with 2020’s Ghosts VI: Locusts instrumental record and, say, the gorgeous orchestration of 2024’s Queer soundtrack, it is a digital firestorm of a song. Equally impressive is just how easily its lyrics dialling into TRON: Ares’ plot strands concerning artificial life fit into the wider NIN canon of alienation.
Astounding moments like this pile up. Target Identified’s stalking instrumental is a masterclass in tension-mounting dread, while A Question Of Trust will be the perfect soundtrack for your next trip to the local fetish club. Even when you think they might be about to make a misstep when Infiltrator starts a bit too upbeat, some low-end pulsing synth throbs re-set the song’s coordinates squarely back to terror town.