As written about non-stop by me, The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20th, 2012.

On July 17th, 2012, the official soundtrack, as written and composed by Hans Zimmer hits shelves. With the prior scores, Zimmer did some amazing, and quite listenable work (who else can’t imagine The Dark Knight without the unique, razor sharp note which always indicated the Joker’s presence?).

Based on what we’ve heard in the trailers so far (especially the MTV Movie Awards footage), Zimmer has again created an amazing score for the Christopher Nolan Batman series, and with three days between the release of the soundtrack and the film, it will be interesting to see what mental pictures the soundtrack pieces together versus the final product.

For those interested, here is the track listing for the soundtrack (the bad ass cover is at the top of this post). There are no spoilers which I can see, but as always, tread lightly.

1. A Storm Is Coming (0:37)
2. On Thin Ice (2:55)
3. Gotham’s Reckoning (4:08)
4. Mind If I Cut In? (3:27)
5. Underground Army (3:12)
6. Born In Darkness (1:57)
7. The Fire Rises (5:33)
8. Nothing Out There (2:51)
9. Despair (3:14)
10. Fear Will Find You (3:08)
11. Why Do We Fall? (2:03)
12. Death By Exile (0:23)
13. Imagine The Fire (7:25)
14. Necessary Evil (3:16)
15. Rise (7:11)