You guys know that The Dome has a bit of a post-apocalyptic vibe, and what better soundtrack than some heavy industrial from the man that practically invented the genre? Trent Reznor continues to pump out highly listenable, downloadable albums. His latest, hot off the digital presses, is The Slip. It’s got some killer tracks and almost all of them are highly usable as background noise for modern and post-apocalyptic games.
Here’s the tracklist:
- 999,999
- 1,000,000
- Letting You
- Discipline
- Echoplex
- Head Down
- Lights in the Sky
- Corona Radiata
- The Four of Us Are Dying
- Demon Seed
As you might have guessed, 999,999 is a lead-in track to 1,000,000. The latter track starts out with a literal headbanging…it sounds like he’s beating his skull against a snare drum over and over and over again. The track then launches into an aural assault that takes a little too long to coalesce in my opinion. Although it gets better by the minute, the end feels like a rejected version of Hand That Feeds
Letting You makes me feel old. This is the kind of song that a decade ago would have fueled me through all-night design sessions, but now it just gives me a headache. Oh well, time to raise a pint of oil to the good old days and move on.
Discipline and Echoplex are both much more my speed. They’re melodic and less crunchy than the previous two tracks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Discipline gets the majority of the early radio play (although you’re not likely to find it much along the FM dial).
Head Down reminded me of some of the killer tracks on Eric Serra’s soundtrack for The Fifth Element
Lights in the Sky and Corona Radiata are linked atmospheric pieces that bring things down a notch before they ramp back up for the big finale.
The Four of Us Are Dying is also an instrumental piece, but it moves the piano back and drives in with some mechanized beats and Blade Runner-esque noise. It ramps up for the final song on the The Slip, a menacing hallucinogenic trip that climaxes with a Motown-Industrial sample. The best thing about the song is that it leaves you wanting more, making it a fitting end to another excellent free download from Nine Inch Nails.
