Composition duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have had quite the journey in the world of film composition since winning the Best Original Score Oscar for the 2010 drama The Social Network. Reznor and Ross have been keeping busy with assorted projects and here they deliver their score for Peter Berg's Patriots Day, a dramatized account of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent citywide hunt for those responsible. The album opens with "Them and Us," a fine example of what the duo does best: evoking dread with resurgent, layered noise. The overall sound is littered with the composers' familiar tricks, but it's anything but tiring. They brilliantly get inside the characteristics of each individual sound, reaching for a crescendo that feels somewhat foreboding yet still bright and beautiful. "We Forget Who We Are" is one of the most poignant tracks on the soundtrack, exemplifying family and unity through its effective use of reverb and misty, romantic piano work. Closer "Resolve" echoes this, albeit in a more triumphant fashion, layering up now and then with bass, overdriven acoustics, climbing swarm effects, and pounding tom-toms that climb to a crescendo with the rest of the piece. "The Place You Are Right Now" takes us down a different road, beginning with lone piano notes that hark back to the feel of "What If We Could?" from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo score before sinking beneath swamping, inquisitive strings and spidery synths. In accordance with the investigative nature of the film, "Trails" is a track in which you can envision the kind of scene it sits against. Two minor piano notes take us into throbbing bass, ending with familiar swarms, bending and pitch-shifting ever so slightly to present that perfect unease, before disappearing amidst a mysterious wave of reverb and ending with a lonely piano sonnet.

1		Them and Us
2		We Forget Who We Are
3		The Place You Are Right Now
4		Inquiries
5		Trails
6		Broken Glass
7		Nobody Cares About Me
8		The Night Drive
9		Escape
10		Terminus
11		Long Shadows on the Street
12		Resolve

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