THE NIN HOTLINE

Friday, 11/28/25

Robin Finck scores the upcoming SLEEP AWAKE experience

EYES OUT is a collaboration between veteran game designer Cory Davis (who got his start making levels for Doom II & Quake, and lead the development of Spec Ops:The Line, which deconstructs the military shooters that were booming during it's release) and Robin Finck, who needs no introduction. This team has been building out SLEEP AWAKE, a surreal, immersive survival-horror game being published by Blumhouse Games. Yes, that same Blumhouse that you're thinking of.

In the run-up to the December 2 release of SLEEP AWAKE, there are a few online events where you'll get a sneak peek at the score, and have a chance to chat with creative director Robin Finck, who scored the experience. First, on December 1, the eve of the release, NIN:DISCORDANCE is hosting a listening part and a Q&A with Robin. And you can hop into the EYES OUT Discord here to connect with other fans, as well as . A week after the game has been out, Robin will be hosting an AMA on the NIN subreddit. If we're lucky, Charlie Clouser might show up in the comments again.

This trailer includes a snippet of the track Tormentor, exemplary of what to expect from the moody, dramatic original music Robin has contributed to the game. You get another taste of that in the release date trailer, featuring a clip of the piece titled Mercy Shock. The commercially available score clocks in a hair under 60 minutes of atmospheric instrumentals, with rich textures and unsettling ambiance.
Sunday, 11/23/25

The original score for Queer gets the vinyl treatment

Early in November, Milan Records wasteasing some Burroughs-style cutup imagery on Instagram, ahead of "QUEER vinyl news coming this week" - shortly thereafter, preorders opened up for a really nicely made gatefold album, containing a 12" 180-gram disc pressed in cobalt blue vinyl (like the Record Store Day exclusive 7" for Te Maldigo, a Warner Music release - if you were able to snag a copy).

As a single disc release, the vinyl album contains a subset of the track listing of the digital release - you can check out the tracklist on NINcatalog, and if you preorder the Queer score at Milan Records, you should be in good shape to get your copy ahead of the holidays - the release date is December 12, 2025.

To opine just for a moment: the whole package on this one looks really, really nice.

Finally, it was about a year ago when a remix of "Vaster than Empires" featuring Alan Sparhawk from Low and BJ Burton was put out into the wild - worth revisiting if it's been a minute, and if you hadn't already heard it, I think you're in for a treat.