Quake (original soundtrack)

Quake
Soundtrack album by Nine Inch Nails
Released	June 22, 1996
Genre	Dark ambient industrial
Length	58:56
Label	id Software (album included on game disc)
Producer	Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails chronology
Further Down the Spiral (1995)Further Down the Spiral1995 Quake (1996) The Fragile (1999)The Fragile1999

Quake is the soundtrack album to the 1996 id Software video game of the same name, composed by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails.^[1] Originally pressed on the same disc as the game, Quake has yet to see independent release, though a vinyl version is planned.^[2] Trent Reznor, the sole member of Nine Inch Nails at the time, also provided sound effects for the game.^[3]

Background

The collaboration between Nine Inch Nails and id Software occurred strictly due to a mutual admiration for each other's work; Reznor provided his services to Quake completely free of charge.^[4]

Composition and content

	Untitled This clip from the seventh track showcases the soundtrack's eerie ambient nature.
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Aside from the first relatively driving track, Quake is a predominantly ambient soundtrack,^[5] and was Reznor's first experimentation with the genre.^[3] He would later go on to win an Academy Award for his ambient soundtrack work.^[5] The music on Quake has been described as dark, immersive, and intended to accentuate the game's oppressive tone.^[6] The music is often called "subtle", "disturbing", and "hair-raising".^[7][8] About the soundtrack, Reznor said, "it is not music, it's textures and ambiences and whirling machine noises and stuff. We tried to make the most sinister, depressive, scary, frightening kind of thing [...] It's been fun."^[9]

Critical reception

The Quake official soundtrack received positive reception, with many appreciating how the music builds upon the game's atmosphere. In his 1996 review of the game for GameSpot, Trent Ward wrote, "Simply put, this is the best soundtrack ever created for a computer game." Ward went on to write about how the eerie sounds and unsettling background noises heighten the game's already tense atmosphere.^[10] Major Mike of GamePro said that "With harsh, rockin' guitar riffs, and creepy low-key synthesizers, the music goes perfectly with each level and thoroughly enhances the overall atmosphere."^[11] Writing for Destructoid, Peter Glagowski said, "Not only did it show that the industry was moving beyond being targeted solely at children, but it pushed the action of its game into overdrive."^[12]

Track listing

All songs written and performed by Trent Reznor.

Notes

• Because the soundtrack is pressed onto the same disc as the game itself, track one is relegated to game data.^[3]
• Quake's packaging provides no official song titles.^[13] Some fans came up with unofficial titles, most the time linking the song to the name of the level in which it first appears.^[3]

Personnel

• Trent Reznor – writing, effects, programming, production

References