Nine Inch Nails are working on new music after being disillusioned by the music industry.
Frontman Trent Reznor has revealed that the industrial rock band’s Peel It Back tour and working on the TRON: Ares soundtrack inspired their return to the studio.
Speaking as part of Consequence’s 2025 Live Act of the Year honour, he spilled: “We are working on new stuff and we’re excited to work on it, and we are prioritising working on Nine Inch Nails over just taking on every single thing that comes up in the other category.
“So, beyond that, I can’t say much, but the difference between now and a year ago is the fuse has been lit and the desire is there.”
A year ago, Trent explained that he focused on creating film scores in recent years because “the music world sucks”.
He told IndieWire in December 2024: “What we’re looking for [from film] is the collaborative experience with interesting people. We haven’t gotten that from the music world necessarily, for our own choice.
“You mentioned disillusionment with the music world? Yes. The culture of the music world sucks. That’s another conversation, but what technology has done to disrupt the music business in terms of not only how people listen to music but the value they place on it is defeating.”
He added: “I’m not saying that as an old man yelling at clouds, but as a music lover who grew up where music was the main thing.
“Music [now] feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background or while you’re doing something else. That’s a long, bitter story.”
Trent has been working on film scores since the 1990s, when he produced the soundtrack for Oliver Stone’s 1994 movie Natural Born Killers.
He’s also worked on The Social Network, the US version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Patriots Day, and, more recently, Challengers and Queer.
Trent and his bandmate and songwriting partner, Atticus Ross, won Oscars and Golden Globes for their work on 2010’s The Social Network, as well as the 2020 animated movie Soul.
In a previous interview with GQ, the pair admitted working on so many film scores allowed them to feel excited about going back to making Nine Inch Nails records.
Trent said: “[Soundtrack work has] managed to make Nine Inch Nails feel way more exciting than it had been in the past few years.
“I’d kind of let it atrophy a bit in my mind for a variety of reasons.”
Atticus added that he was “excited about starting on the next record … I think we’re in a place now where we kind of have an idea.”
Nine Inch Nails’ last studio album that wasn’t a soundtrack was 2020’s Ghosts V: Together and its counterpart Ghosts VI: Locusts.