Trent Reznor composes theme for Black Ops 2

Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, who worked with id Software on the music for Quake and Doom 3, is back into game music, composing the theme for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

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Nine Inch Nails front man and lifelong gamer Trent Reznor, who worked with id Software on the music for Quake and Doom 3, is back into game music, composing the theme for Treyarch's upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

Reznor, who has played such games as Diablo III, Heavy Rain and Skyrim, is also a fan of the Call of Duty franchise, according to an interview in USA Today. He said he put a lot of thought into how to portray the music:

"What I learned in listening to the full story and the amount of effort that has gone into the back story and the characters and the full preparation (is) there is a lot of reservation and angst and sense of loss and regret and anger bubbling under the surface. So it didn't make sense to have a gung ho, patriotic feeling theme song. It has to feel weighty. There is a lot of remorse and apprehension here. So choosing to arrange it a bit more with guitars and drums and aggressively sounding, that struck a tone with them.

    "If it was set purely in World War II, for example, I wouldn't have chosen the instruments that I did. The fact that it is set slightly in the future made me feel like maybe it is OK to get away from an orchestra. So we did it the way we did."

    Video Games Live co-producer Jack Wall, who worked on the score for Mass Effect 2, composed the rest of the music for the game.

    Contributing Editor
    From The Chatty
    • reply
      July 11, 2012 7:30 AM

      John Keefer posted a new article, Trent Reznor composes theme for Black Ops 2.

      Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, who worked with id Software on the music for Quake and Doom 3, is back into game music, composing the theme for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

      • reply
        July 11, 2012 7:49 AM

        I'm curious: isn't the Black Ops franchise set in the 1960s/70s? From what Trent is writing, I think he will use a more "modern" tone, with synthesizers, etc. Was that really prevalent then?

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        July 11, 2012 7:54 AM

        Guessing it will sound like a throwaway from The Fragile sessions.

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        July 11, 2012 8:13 AM

        Trent Reznor. Cool! Apropos, Activision... could you make the cover artwork so we can flip it over, and on the other side we have the zombi mode artwork? Most os us will buy this thing just for the zombis :) :)

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        July 11, 2012 8:34 AM

        Lol I love the generic press usage of the term "frontman" for him.

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        July 11, 2012 8:48 AM

        while i was INCREDIBLY upset about this yesterday, i've made peace with it today. it would be worse if he was scoring the game or voice acting. this dosen't mean he's still not leftist. it just means he's expanding his portfolio.

        now just do doom 4 and all is forgiven

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        July 11, 2012 9:52 AM

        Trent, you should be doing the music for Doom 4 :(

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          July 11, 2012 4:06 PM

          Doom 4 is probably going to get Chris Vrenna again. I liked Chris' work in the CPU complex, but of course I had to replace the Lateralus ripoff title theme with some other less annoying audio (I created a loop of filtered white noise).

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            July 11, 2012 5:39 PM

            I want to see what Raymond Watts would do with DOOM4 or Rhys Fulber or Erica Dunham.

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        July 11, 2012 11:21 AM

        No, not CoD. Doom 4, please. :(

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        July 11, 2012 3:38 PM

        I really wish he was doing the music for a better game

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        July 11, 2012 3:54 PM

        Guess what. He's doing a job. Its weird that people would be upset about this.

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        July 11, 2012 6:03 PM

        hey remember march of the pigs? me neither

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        July 11, 2012 6:10 PM

        eh, long as he's still making music. whatever

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          July 11, 2012 6:18 PM

          I posted it in the old news article, but I haven't been crazy about any of his work since With Teeth (excluding Ghosts, which I really love). Year Zero is okay, but that was the point where Atticus Ross' influence became way too strong, skewing heavily toward distorted guitars and detuned pianos.

          The heyday of NIN for me was from Broken to The Fragile. PHM is nice, but too rudimentary, too "very early 90's MTV demo tape-y".

          My favorite NIN sound is the guitar and synth used in Last and Reptile. You can almost see the music; the soundscape is so beautiful.

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            July 11, 2012 6:30 PM

            i agree. Year Zero is pretty great, but not entirely NIИ to me. ghosts is closer, and the Social Network score is along those lines, which is enough to keep me interested.

            and that cover of Immigrant Song with Karen O was pretty okay too!

            but yeah, i miss the Quake music, ultimately

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