A few days ago we got our first look at the cover art and track listing for the forthcoming release of Hans Zimmer‘s orchestral soundtrack to The Dark Knight Rises was released.

Today we have for you a selection of 30-second samples from each of the album’s fifteen tracks. You can listen to them here below.

The chilling chant that serves as the theme for the film’s villain Bane (Tom Hardy) is quite prevalent in several of these tracks, but in the final track “Rise” there is a subtle callback to a piece used to underscore the death of Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) parents in the early moments of Batman Begins. A hint of rumors to come true, perhaps?

We won’t know for definite how Zimmer’s score measures up to the magnificent work he and James Newton Howard did for the first two Christopher Nolan-directed Bat-films, but so far it’s sounding pretty damn good.

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20, 2012. The score will be released on July 17. You can pre-order it here.

Preview

[Source: Batman News via Digital Spy]