Nine Inch Nails has released a new album for the first time in five years, with the soundtrack for “Tron Ares”. 

While Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are no strangers to composing film soundtracks, with their work on “Challengers,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Social Network” being among their most acclaimed, this is the first time that they have done a movie soundtrack under the band name Nine Inch Nails. 

I’m glad to say that they haven’t lost touch. Nine Inch Nails has composed an electronic album that lives up to the legacies of the original “Tron” soundtrack composed by Wendy Carlos and “Tron: Legacy” composed by French musician duo Daft Punk.    

One of the things I found most interesting about the “Tron Ares” soundtrack is how it compares to its predecessor. Where Daft Punk went for an orchestral score for “Tron Legacy”, Nine Inch Nails focused on an all-electronic soundtrack, with no organic or orchestral sounds being present.  

The DNA of their previous albums, like “The Downward Spiral” and “The Fragile,” can be found in songs like “Infiltrator” and “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” with their harsh electronic sounds found in them. 

One of my favorite pairs of songs from the album is “Who Wants to Live Forever” and “No Going Back.” Both start with the same warm electronic beeping that you wouldn’t expect to find in a cold and harsh world that the rest of the album evokes, which is why it works so well. 

The soft and romantic electronic sounds of these two songs are what drawn me to this album and makes me enjoy it so much. It elevates this from a regular soundtrack to something that only Nine Inch Nails could do. While I’m not sure how well the movie will be, at least the soundtrack turned out well.