Over 10 years ago, Daft Punk took their synths to the screen when they soundtracked Tron: Legacy, the sequel to the cult classic 80s sci-fi hit. Instead of turning the album into another techno-focused project, they aimed to combine the orchestral scores of modern cinema with their own blend of gothic, gloomy electronica, to an acceptable but not exactly exciting effect.
Now, Nine Inch Nails is tasked with providing a soundtrack to the cyberspace films, and they too are focused on the duality of humanity and computers. Unlike their predecessors, they are less concerned with the lack of sunlight, the possibility of a digital life, and the fascination of mankind with cyber-life. Instead, they focus on the wounds that come with giving up a life. While we can’t speak to whether the score matches the story quite yet, one thing is for sure – the electric energy of Nine Inch Nails was perfect for the cyberpunk backdrop of the Tron series.
Backed by aggressively fuzzy guitars and experimental-inspired electronica, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s latest work swings its audience between thoughtful, slow, polished avant-garde pieces and distorted club mixes, clashing the sharp but undoubtedly real nature of life outside the matrix with the pleasant emptiness of digital space. In the same way that NIN classic “closer” uses industrial guitar tone to simulate gnashing desire, they again rely on their signature biting guitar tracks to overtake the electronic melodies of the score like the taste of blood in your mouth. Fitting, for a film named after the Roman god of war. These moments of overdriven, distorted guitars also add an unexpected air of tension to the film’s plot – previous installments never got my BPM much higher than your average adventure movie, but Reznor’s desperate instrumentation seems more fitting for a futuristic horror than a sci-fi epic. The aggressiveness of the instrumentals inspires hope in me that Tron: Ares will capitalize on the dangers of a life split between the real and digital world.
Tracks like “As Alive as You Need Me To Be” and “Shadow Over Me” also start to press against the walls of how much Disney is willing to let audiences know about the film, with lyrics “I know who I am / But what if everything is true?” setting expectations of an AI-comes-to-life-and-questions–their-own-humanity plot; one which seems perfect for the artists who blew up with A Downward Spiral, an album centered around self destruction.
Overall, the score is enjoyable even outside of the film – I’ve found myself listening to both the rock tracks “As Alive as You Need Me To Be” / “Shadow Over Me” and the more ambient electronic tracks “Daemonize” / “New Directive” often, and so I’d rate the album as a very solid 8/10 and hope it serves as a message to the rest of Hollywood: please let more rock bands soundtrack your movies.
Image Credits: Disney
