Nine inch nails // tron ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Nine Inch Nails meet the world of TRON: Ares
★★★★☆ (4/5)
Album artwork
Nine Inch Nails, the groundbreaking industrial rock act led by Trent Reznor, has spent over three decades reshaping the boundaries of electronic and rock music with their abrasive textures, has now turned their distinctive sonic lens toward TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The soundtrack is comprised of 24 songs with a mixture of instrumentals and “lyrical” songs. The decision not to use orchestral scores pushed the act to prompt drama and tension entirely through electronics and industrial sound design. For a franchise like TRON, where the virtual and artificial are central, that seems thematically on point.
This latest release serves as the musical backbone for the highly anticipated sci-fi action film TRON: Ares, a continuation of the iconic TRON franchise, which explores the neon-lit digital frontier and the conflict between human and machine. With this album, Nine Inch Nails brings their signature intensity and futuristic electronic textures to a cinematic universe defined by high-stakes adventure, technological intrigue and a visually striking virtual world.
From the opening track “Init”, TRON: Ares makes its intentions crystal clear: this is not a gentle, orchestral score; it's angular, synthetic, and built to provoke. Reznor and Ross lean heavily into their industrial sound with dark ambient undercurrents, paired meticulously wrought electronic beats and humming machines, painting a vivid, cyber image of buzzing circuitry and neon lights.
A contender for the sharpest arrow in the arsenal would be lead single “As Alive as You Need Me to Be”, which was released two weeks prior on September 3rd with a monochromatically psychedelic music video. As one of the few lyrical songs on the majority-instrumental soundtrack, it manages to stand up both as a NIN track and as something cinematic. The rest of the album do well to show off the bands range within the confines of a film score. From the down-tempo and brooding “I Know You Can Feel It” that balances tension with lyricism, to the dramatic “Shadow Over Me” to close the tracklist.
The score is made compelling by its harshness and refusal to relent, however this may be its very foil for listeners hoping for more melodic or uplifting moments, or for a more varied emotional palette. Alongside this, the score demands patience as a standalone listening experience which is sometimes inevitable for a movie soundtrack. Some cues feel more functional, and serve the purpose of supplementing visuals, action or narrative tension rather than providing a purely auditory experience. For film music this is standard, but for fans of NIN’s more song-based work, the contrast is stark.
That being said, the production is crisp with real attention to layers and texture such as the buzzing digital distortion and the clean harshness of electronics.
TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is not for everyone, but it is potent. For fans of NIN’s heavier, more experimental side or for those drawn to soundscapes that are uneasy, challenging, and vivid – it delivers in spades. It pushes the TRON franchise into darker, more introspective territory and does so without betraying its electronic sci-fi roots.
For those in search of an orchestral score that lifts or makes you feel triumphant, this isn’t quite it. However, if you want to inhabit the underbelly of the digital world, to feel the hum of machines and the anxious pulse beneath the neon shine, TRON: Ares stakes its claim as a worthy, bold entry in both the TRON lineage and the NIN oeuvre.
The soundtrack is now available on all major streaming platforms.
Review by: May Uddin
