Nine Inch Nails Return with TRON: Ares Soundtrack Drop

Nine Inch Nails have resurfaced with their first full fledged song in half a decade, “As Alive as You Need Me to Be,” marking a bold new phase leading up to their forthcoming film soundtrack. Brace yourself: TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is slated to drop via Interscope on September 19, while the highly anticipated sci fi sequel hits theaters on October 10.

The track thumps with ominous, dancefloor ready energy, punctuated by revving synths and engine like pulsations, echoing the high-speed lightcycles of TRON’s digital realm. It’s the first true NIN release since their 2021 collaboration “Isn’t Everyone,” and their first album since the twin experimental releases Ghosts V: Together/Ghosts VI: Locusts in 2020 . Produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross in league with Boys Noize, Ian Kirkpatrick, BJ Burton, and Hudson Mohawke. The song layers jagged synth, sharp drums, and Reznor’s visceral vocals sweet and brutal in equal measure.

In interviews, Reznor has teased that the score flips the script: no orchestral strings or brass you’re getting pure industrial grit. Every note is “precise and unpleasant at times,” deliberately crafted to interrogate the synthetic souls at TRON’s heart robots with conscience, analog souls, and existential stakes.

The full soundtrack is a sprawling 24‑track journey, blending ambient textures and full band assaults, inviting listeners to follow along as if it were a standalone NIN album. It includes hauntingly titled pieces like “Forked Reality,” “Infiltrator,” and “100% Expendable” all drenched in that trademark industrial atmosphere.

TRON: Ares, directed by Joachim Rønning and starring Jared Leto, Jeff Bridges, Greta Lee, and Evan Peters, continues the legacy of its 1982 and 2010 predecessors whose scores, by Wendy Carlos and Daft Punk respectively, became landmarks in their own rights.

Meanwhile, NIN are hitting the road. Their Peel It Back world tour launches August 6 in Oakland, with support from Boys Noize, marking their first North American run in three years. And this fall, Trent and Atticus are curating Future Ruins, a one day festival on November 8 in Los Angeles, featuring film score legends, think John Carpenter, Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, Mark Mothersbaugh, plus Questlove’s tribute to Curtis Mayfield.

THE NEW NINE INCH NAILS ALBUM
TRON: ARES (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)
AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 19TH

PRE-ORDER ON VINYL AND CD AND PRE-SAVE NOW

Tracklist for TRON: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
1. Init
2. Forked Reality
3. As Alive as You Need Me to Be
4. Echoes
5. This Changes Everything
6. In the Image Of
7. I Know You Can Feel It
8. Permanence
9. Infiltrator
10. 100% Expendable
11. Still Remains
12. Who Wants to Live Forever?
13. Building Better Worlds
14. Target Identified
15. Daemonize
16. Empathetic Response
17. What Have You Done?
18. A Question of Trust
19. Ghost in the Machine
20. No Going Back
21. Nemesis
22. New Directive
23. Out in the World
24. Shadow Over Me

08/06/2025

OAKLAND, CA | OAKLAND ARENA
SUPPORT ACT: BOYS NOIZE

Nine Inch Nails Lead TRON: Ares Soundtrack with Dark, Futuristic Score