Tron: Ares soundtrack: "When it came to enhancing the dystopian vibe, Nine Inch Nails were the perfect musical fit"

As the follow-up to two iconic sci-fi classics, there was always going to be huge enthusiasm for another Tron movie, but one element that undoubtedly sent excitement levels through the roof for Tron: Ares was the news that the score would be composed by industrial legends Nine Inch Nails.

For good measure, the movie also marked the first time NIN’s constituent members, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, would create a soundtrack under the band moniker Nine Inch Nails. It all marked another major coup for the franchise, where established tradition is now for each score to be composed by electronic heavyweights.

The custom commenced with the 1982 original, Tron, where the soundtrack was created by Wendy Carlos, who first came to prominence with 1968’s Switched On Bach, on which she gave an ingenious electronic overhaul to a selection of classical standards.

This perked the interest of famous director Stanley Kubrick, who sealed Carlos’ musical and cinematic immortality by asking her to work on the scores for both 1971’s A Clockwork Orange and 1980’s The Shining. With lofty standards already set, when it came to selecting the composers of the long-awaited 2010 sequel, Tron Legacy, the choice this time would be French dance maestros Daft Punk.

Incorporating orchestral elements into their patented style of atmospheric electronica, the duo assembled another hugely acclaimed score for the box office smash. With the Tron series have now yielded two classic soundtracks, the question became – as Pulp famously put it on This Is Hardcore – what exactly do you do for an encore?

Thus, the inspired choice was made to ask Nine Inch Nails to come aboard for Tron: Ares. Since winning an Oscar for their first score – as you do – for David Fincher’s 2010 classic The Social Network, Reznor and Ross have become two of the most in-demand composers in Hollywood. They have soundtracked a series of acclaimed movies, including further Fincher efforts like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mank and The Killer, in addition to winning a second Oscar for the 2020 Pixar animated film, Soul.

It was around this juncture that the possibility of working on Tron: Ares first surfaced. Each instalment of the series has tapped into the technological concerns of its era, with Tron engaging with the emergent realm of video game software, while Legacy explored the world of virtual reality.

The story of Ares sees villainous tech guru Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters) send a super-intelligent programme, Ares (Jared Leto), into the real world on a highly dangerous mission, marking humanity’s first encounter with AI beings. When it came to enhancing the dystopian vibe, Nine Inch Nails were the perfect musical fit.

Nine Inch Nails by Corrine Schiavone.

The group were first approached about the movie by Tom McDougall, the President of Walt Disney Music, on the back of the Oscar-winning Soul score, with Reznor jumping at the opportunity.

Turning 60 this year, in addition to NIN’s brace of Oscar wins, Reznor is also a Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer whose place in the musical pantheon has long been assured thanks to pioneering albums like The Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine. However, any chance he and Ross might rest on their laurels was decisively put to bed in 2024, when the group announced a raft of new projects, including a fashion collaboration and a music soundtrack festival, Future Ruins.

Excitingly, the latter is to take place in Los Angeles in November, and as well as Reznor and Ross themselves, will include performances from such soundtrack luminaries as Howard Shore, Mark Mothersbaugh, Questlove, John Carpenter and many more.

Elsewhere, the first full fruits of NIN’s work on Tron: Ares arrived in the weeks after they opened their wildly acclaimed Peel It Back tour in Dublin, when they dropped the initial taster, the rip-roaring industrial stomper ‘As Alive As You Need Me To Be’ (notably, the single also featured production input from the support act on the Peel It Back excursion, electro wizard Boys Noize).

At this stage, Nine Inch Nails have become synonymous with exceptional quality control, but lest it be taken for granted, it’s perhaps worth pausing to consider the enormity of their creative achievement. In a phase of their career when most acts happily settle for lucrative greatest hits tours, NIN restlessly seek out new artistic challenges.

Like his great heroes and inspirations Brian Eno and David Bowie – the latter of whom he memorably worked with in the ’90s – Reznor continually searches for fresh musical terrain, and thrives in the tension between the avant garde and the mainstream. And as with his great cinematic collaborator Fincher, he also possesses a ferocious work ethic and attention to detail.

Indeed, an example of Reznor’s borderline masochistic perfectionism came in 2013, when – having already enjoyed universal kudos for a summer festival run – the singer decided sections of the Tension tour would have to be overhauled for an arena tour. To put it mildly, this is not a man who takes the easy route.

As such, it felt almost inevitable that Nine Inch Nails would do such a magnificent job on the Tron: Ares soundtrack. As the run-up to the movie continued, the group dropped a memorable cyber-punk video for the ‘As Alive…’, before the full soundtrack arrived in all its glory. Filled with pummelling industrial beats, ominous synths, unsettling ambience and occasional moments of crystalline beauty, this was vintage NIN and – quelle surprise – a soundtrack of the year contender.

Highlights include the John Carpenter-style electro menace of the opening 'Init'; the sinister industrial grooves of 'I Know You Can Feel It'; the vintage synth symphony of 'Building Better Worlds', with its hints of Vangelis and Wendy Carlos; and the thumping closer 'Shadow Over Me', a darkly atmospheric number in the best NIN tradition.

Building anticipation for the film to fever-pitch, the trailers have also offered a powerful glimpse of Norwegian director Joachim Ronning’s vision: a breathtaking sci-fi extravaganza, with visual echoes of Blade Runner, filled with awesome visuals and electrifying set-pieces.

And then there’s the exceptional cast, with Leto and Peters being joined by a plethora of other heavyweights, including Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges, the latter reprising his role as the original movie’s protagonist, Kevin Flynn.

When it came to the music, meanwhile, director Ronning knew exactly the vibe he was going for. The director also noted Reznor and Ross had been “very involved in the mixing process, because we wanted a lot of their music to be front and centre.”

And so the scene is set for an unmissable cinematic event. Fasten your seatbelts – this trip to the unforgettable world of Tron promises to be the most spectacular yet.

• Tron: Ares is released in cinemas on October 10. Nine Inch Nails’ soundtrack album is out now.