Even by the standards of Nine Inch Nails, Robin Finck was always the one that drew the attention. A frenetic ball of energy with hair shorn into crazy patterns and a bleached out, post-apocalyptic look, he bought a crazed energy to the live show. His guitar playing was no less eccentric. His leads shimmered and snarled across the epic soundscape Trent Reznor assembled for ‘the fragile’ and his unpredictable soloing also helped to bring the industrial edge that Axl had been hankering for to Guns ‘n’ Roses when he toured with that band through the 2000s. Given the darkly atmospheric nature of much of Nine inch nails’ output, and with at least two members already having involved themselves in soundtrack work (Trent Reznor who has scored both films and games and Charlie Clouser who provided the memorable soundtrack to Saw), it seems a natural move for Robin to score a computer game. Working with Wordclock (Pedro Pimentel), Robin crafted the soundtrack to survival horror game Noct, the pair swapping files via the internet, and the result is a dark and atmospheric piece of work that not only provides the perfect soundtrack to the game, but also acts as a stand-alone piece that effectively shreds the nerves to pieces over its ten tracks.
Opening with ‘Eros’, an eight-minute exercise in ambient noise, drone and subtle shifts in mood, Robin and Wordclock immediately set the tone. Elements of Nine Inch Nails (‘a warm place’) and also of Trent’s work with Atticus Ross can be found here, with Robin and Wordclock dabbling in the same synth-heavy territory, but the duo have, nonetheless, found their own sound, not least thanks to Robin’s other worldly guitar work. After the late Autumn haze of ‘Eros’, things take a darker turn with the sinister ‘Dasr’. With Robin’s guitar twisted and tortured into new shapes, the music insidiously weaves its way into your subconscious, recalling some long-abandoned township discovered in some dusty, desert hell hole, and the effect is unnerving to say the least. Opening as a drone piece, ‘Ibex’ slowly takes shape via a pulsing synth line and it conjures up an atmosphere not dissimilar to the work of John Carpenter (who scored his own ‘Prince of Darkness’) and Ennio Morricone (who scored Carpenter’s ‘the thing’) with its throbbing bass and sparkling leads. In contrast, ‘Laas’ is pure drone, building its atmosphere of suspense by offering the listener little in the way of identifiable melody to help guide them from the darkness. A short piece, ‘NeXT’, is only just over two minutes in length and acts as a bridge to the sinister ‘Juno’.
With subtle instrumentation, ‘Juno’ sits somewhere between ambient and the beautiful post-rock soundscapes of Mogwai. There’s still an undercurrent of menace, but the atmosphere is calmer here only for the heavily distorted menace of ‘Tcas’ to really bring on the fear. Delivered like the mechanical horror of ‘reptile’ distilled to its primal essence, Robin’s guitar here is exceptionally savage and the listener responds with trepidation. ‘Oasis’ lives up to its name and provides a moment’s sanctuary before ‘Apex’ draws the listener into a weird, Aphex Twin-esque drone that shimmers in the half light. The album concludes with ‘NuSTAR’, a thirteen-minute piece that traverses a great deal of sonic territory before, finally, providing the listener with a gentle, piano-led coda that gives the album some element of resolution, no matter how ambiguous.
It is highly unlikely that many fans will gather for ‘Noct’. Although some Nine Inch Nails hallmarks remain, the majority of the soundtrack is as different from NIN as Trent Reznor’s soundtrack work is. Darkly ambient, it is more easily recommended to fans of Aphex Twin, Davidge, Axis or perdition and Ulver than industrial fans and so should be approached with caution. The album is, however, a hallucinatory trip that is deeply satisfying if you’re willing to allow the music to determine the journey. More about the suspense than the shock and the horror, ‘Noct’ is a dark, evocative work that will haunt your dreams for months to come.
