"Reznor and Ross' best scores tend not to make the kind of bold statements they do so well with Nine Inch Nails, though. They operate more like a perfume whose scent is unmistakable in any kind of room. It's a little standoffish, a little distant, with heartbreak heavily implied. It's music that sounds like it's made peace with desperation, in other words, and they do it superbly here."
"But that's also the problem: Since when has Nine Inch Nails gone unnoticed anywhere? The pleasure of the people playing this music is obvious and infectious, but it's hard to shake the idea that despite their effectiveness, the hardest-charging songs here feel incomplete, that the film score's mandate not to draw too much attention to itself hampers the songs' ability to fully bloom on their own terms."
Nine Inch Nails' harder-charging songs on the score feel constrained and sometimes incomplete because the film score avoids drawing attention from the picture. Reznor and Ross favor subtlety, crafting scores that act like an unmistakable perfume: standoffish, distant, and heavy with implied heartbreak. '100% Expendable' uses lightly detuned synths that tremble, and brassy, tone-harsh textures recall Wendy Carlos while channeling Radiohead's damp resignation. 'Building Better Worlds' sculpts a cyber-hymn that disintegrates into pixels. Minor details, such as the live-wire buzz behind 'Daemonize,' carry significant emotional weight. 'Who Wants to Live Forever?' emerges as the album's most affecting vocal piece.
Read at Pitchfork
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