Review – Tron Ares Soundtrack – Music by Nine Inch Nails
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album: Tron Ares
Rating: 8.5/10
From its opening gambit in “Init”, TRON: Ares wastes no time staking out territory. The track is stark and mechanical, built on glitchy percussion and static textures that immediately signal this won’t be a reprise of Daft Punk’s sweeping orchestral work. That sense of austere futurism continues into “Infiltrator”, a taut piece that pulses with danger and movement, almost like a stealth sequence unfolding in real time. It’s a thrilling setup, though it’s also clear from the outset that Reznor and Ross are less interested in grandeur than in disorientation, atmosphere, and texture.
The early section of the record alternates between menace and fragile introspection. “Echoes” stands out as one of the score’s most haunting moments: a mournful piano line drifts across waves of shimmering synth, evoking loneliness within circuitry., giving it a futuristic feel. In contrast, “This Changes Everything” ramps up the intensity, layering harsh beats with static bursts, as though the system itself is breaking apart. This duality, an isolation versus chaos, gives the album its emotional backbone, even if it often sacrifices thematic clarity for mood.
Vocals enter sparingly but meaningfully, providing rare flashes of warmth. “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” pairs Reznor’s understated delivery with icy synth washes, finding humanity in a digital wasteland. Later, “Who Wants to Live Forever?”, a reimagined cover featuring Judeline, reshapes Queen’s classic into a cold, spectral hymn. These tracks don’t just expand the sonic palette; they anchor the narrative, lending a vulnerability that counterbalances the otherwise metallic severity of the instrumentals.
Momentum continues in the middle stretch with tracks like “Building Better Worlds”, which leans into driving, industrial rhythms, and “Ghost in the Machine” a track that feels almost like a classic Nine Inch Nails outtake — buzzing bass lines, jagged synths, and tightly wound tension. It’s here that the record risks losing cohesion, reminding the listener that it is, at its core, a film score meant to serve images rather than stand fully on its own.
Still, moments of Trent’s cinematic grandeur do emerge in melancholy restraint — subdued pads, aching melodies, and a quiet fade into nothingness. It’s not the rousing finale some might crave, but it feels true to the album’s ethos a refusal of spectacle in favor of haunting ambiguity.
In the end, TRON: Ares will divide listeners. For those expecting the soaring romanticism of Tron: Legacy, this score’s abrasive edges and minimalist tendencies may frustrate. But as a Nine Inch Nails record masquerading as a soundtrack, it is bracing, uncompromising, and at times deeply affecting.
The track highlights: “Echoes,” “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” “Building Better Worlds,” “Digital Afterlife” and “Ghost in the Machine” balance alien coldness with flickers of humanity. Taken as a whole, it’s a daring, if uneven, exploration of how far electronic film scoring can go when unshackled from convention.
For more information, see the movie Tron Ares in theaters near you, or Nine Inch Nails website:
