There’s been an important tradition of having big names in the electronic music scene do the soundtracks fro the TRON film franchise. We had one of the synthesizer Moog pioneers, Wendy Carlos, do the original score for the 1982 film, and the now-defunct, masked French synth duo Daft Punk did a great score for TRON: Legacy back in 2010. Now we have Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross teaming up for the umpteenth time (last time was for Challengers) to do the new soundtrack for TRON: Ares, which would be no real huge news, but this new soundtrack is credited as Nine Inch Nails, and is technically part of the group’s album repertoire. It’s kind of a weird choice, but TRON: Ares did promise to be a darker and more brooding addition to the TRON films, so I guess they needed a darker electro-centric band? NIN would not have been my first choice; I would have gone Carpenter Brut, Petrurbator, or hell, even Burial, but considering everyone knows the name, NIN is a safe choice for the Disney mouse.
Like all film soundtracks, this album is a beast, with 24 songs stretching over an hour. There are a few brief classic NIN moments, and Reznor does flex his scratchy vocal chops on the songs like the anthemic “As Alive As You Need Me To Be,” which even gives a bit of a disco vocoder nod to Daft Punk’s TRON vibe. The lyrics themselves feel pretty cookie-cutter, but overall, it’s a cool dystopian synth tune with some cool industrial flourishes. The next track, “Echoes,” is more minimal and pretty gorgeous with some melancholic electro keys, while “This Changes Everything,” feels like something you’d hear on Radiohead’s King of Limbs, but more club-y. “Infiltrator,” has that sinister and grimey feel from older The Downward Spiral NIN era, but it never really explodes like I wanted it to. I think that’s the problem with most soundtracks—the songs can never be the main thing you remember from the film, so the musicians really have to make it be accompanying music rather than the star of the show. Although, if we go back to a filmn like Challengers, the soundtrack to the film is basically a character.
Honestly, those are the real instrumental tracks that stood out to me. The others aren’t bad, but not very memorable, probably best served with the visuals of the movie. We get more vocals from Reznor on “Who Wants To Live Forever?” that features Judeline, whom I was not aware of, but sounds like Billie Eilish. It’s a nice mix with the ol’ industrial goth dad vocals I know too well. The TRON: Ares soundtrack feels a bit phoned in, and I feel like it can be for a franchise that refuses to die from a band that also refuses to die. I guess the NIN I know is best reserved for my Junior High emo phase and always will be.
