[Xevion]

Now, I am not exactly the biggest Industrial fan, I much prefer progressive metal, or even jazz to it, but I do listen to it occasionally. Let the discussion include anything industrial such as Wumpscut, precursors to it like Front 242, and other groups where industrial has had a strong influence, like NIN.

If you are looking for a starter disc for some industrial, I would reccomend looking at Wumpscut: Down Where We Belong - it is a cd with all remixes of their songs, a few of them are just noise to me, but some of them are absolutely great, Thorns, Angel, and Down Where We Belong to start with are some of my favorite, if not my favorite three songs in the genre

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For some synth-pop/industrial (Think Depesche Mode + Wumpscut, about halfway inbetween - the music takes the form of something more like Depesche Mode, but sounds more like Wumpscut). This group has a very bleak, militaristic sound, but they also have softer songs like Standing (Which is one of my favorite songs) which are more vocal based. The singer has a nice british accent, and has this monotonous but tonal thing going on with his voice, it is quite weird really (He dosen't have too much of a range, which makes it easy to sing along to), and unfortunately his voice has been tainted by kind of tone thingy, although not too badly. Standing is a song that just tickles you down your spine, the lyrics are beautiful (And I never pay attention to them normally!). I have most of their CDs, even the really overpriced Advance and Follow, but I like Empires the best. This music is quite simplistic, all 4/4 and goes thump thump thump thump with vocals and while that simplicity sounds bad, it brings the vocalist to the front of the song in this case, using the rest of the sound as a backdrop a lot of the time. The song "Joy" is most aptly named too

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If you like synth pop or industrial, or tool, then I would highly reccomend this group, and the CD Empires in particular. It can be a bit reminiscent of Tool with the vocals, but is synth pop at its core. Their older CDs have a more agressive sound, with spoken lyrics and more militarism, and a more industrial tone.


Cleen is a somewhat minimalist industrial group, I am leaving for work now but if anyone wants me to elaborate, I can write a description

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Now, the people that actually know a variety of industrial should post here so as to inform people that don't know much, like me.

 

[chadbang]

I was musically mentally challenged in the '80s...
Isn't Nine Inch Nails industrial?
If they are; they are the gods.
Trent Reznor is, anyway.

 

[Demetrio]

Quote:

Originally posted by Xevion Now, I am not exactly the biggest Industrial fan, I much prefer progressive metal, or even jazz to it, but I do listen to it occasionally (...)

Hey, Xevion, and how about Industrial/Stoner "Progressive" Rock? Sounds interesting, don't you think? I'm talking about the Finnish band CIRCLE, take a little of your time and listen to the sound samples of this great prog band available at this link:

http://www.ektrorecords.com/releases/prospekt.html

Happy listening.

 

[DarkAngel]

I am big Industrial fan, living in Chicago from 1980-91 and walking to Wax Trax a few times a week and seeing some of these people at the store (wax trax label artists).

Core Industrial CDs
-NIN, pretty hate machine + broken + downward spiral + fragile
-Ministry, land of rape/honey + mind + psalm 69
-Skinny Puppy, bites/remission + new singles collection
-Front 242, front by front + official version
-Marilyn Manson, antichrist superstar + holy wood (don't laugh this is great stuff!)
-Rammstein, sennscuht + mutter
-Stabbing Westward, WBP + darkest days

There are many more but these are must have for any serious
rivet head.......classics of this genre. Buy these immediately if you don't own and have any interest in industrial/metal music. My single best song from any industrial Cd is Skinny Puppy "dig it" a masterpiece in all respects.

More to come......

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by Xevion For some synth-pop/industrial (Think Depesche Mode + Wumpscut, about halfway inbetween - the music takes the form of something more like Depesche Mode, but sounds more like Wumpscut).

You forgot to mention the name of this band, so I'll save you the effort: VNV Nation. Somewhere between EBM and synth-pop. Quote:

Now, the people that actually know a variety of industrial should post here so as to inform people that don't know much, like me.

It would take me months of re-listening and posting to inform people everything I know about industrial. So as not to be overwhelmed, I'll be posting in bits and pieces. I would say about 1/4 of my collection is industrial. I was even in an industrial/EBM band at one time.

Let me start by breaking it down (chadbang, and anyone else who thinks that NIN are industrial). There are several flavors of industrial.

Old school: Throbbing Gristle, Einsturzende Neubauten, et al. Mid 80's.

A lot of noise-based, and found-instruments based music. Very coarse. Check out any Throbbing Gristle anthology or Strategies Against Architecture (1 or 2, not 3 -- 3 is more recent material, and does not fall into the "old school" category).

Guitar-industrial: Nine Inch Nails, Ministry (especially The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste and Land of Rape and Honey), Skinny Puppy's Rabies only, Godflesh, Chemlab, Rorschach Test, Rammstein (how could I have forgotten), et al. 1989-???

Basically, metal meets disco. In a good way. Drum machines are almost required.

Classic industrial: the entire Wax Trax ouevre (?sp), Front Line Assembly, Front 242 (how could I have forgotten -- EBM at times), late 80's, early 90's. Some have stuck around, so I guess "late 80's on" is a better way to describe it.

Lots of drum machines and samplers and vocals run through distortion effects, etc. Any of the really good Skinny Puppy albums (Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse is a particular favourite, ViviSect VI, Too Dark Park, Bites, Cleanse, Fold, and Manipulate are all good).

EBM: Electronic Body Music -- sort of a hybrid between classic industrial and synth-pop. Continues to this day. The mentioned VNV Nation is a good one. Evil's Toy Angels Only is awesome! Easily my favourite of the genre. Apoptygma Berserk, Spahn Ranch, Covenant, C-Tec,

Current scene consists of bands like Funker Vogt, Mentallo and the Fixer (a long-standing purveyor of quality industrial music -- they may have been the first industrial I ever heard), Haujobb (they drifted off for a while, but Polarity is really good), Front Line Assembly, :wumpscut: (of course!), Velvet Acid Christ, too many others to mention (and not leave someone else out).

Also, lots of other hybrids: Pitchshifter incorporate elements of industrial into their punk/funk hybrid; many goth bands incorporate elements of industrial into their music, and perform remix work for, or have remix work performed by, industrial artists; etc.

Okay, I gotta get back to work, so I'll just put the qualifier in at this point: all of this is an ultra-over-simplification, so if any fans of industrial music want to correct me, feel free. That's what this thread is about. If your only exposure to industrial is Nine Inch Nails, then you haven't heard industrial "proper". It's well worth it, check it out! That would be like me saying "I've heard 'Classics on 45' -- what other classical music would I like?" Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails, and I think he's/they're great. They're just not the "definition" of the genre. They're more on the fringes...the pop fringes, at that. Most of it is much more "underground" sounding.

 

[MacDEF]

Like DarkAngel, I used to frequent the WaxTrax! store in Chicago, and used to go to shows with (then) upcoming industrial artists like Ministry and Front 242.

Some of my favorite "industrial" albums:

Front 242's entire catalog

(may favourites are Front By Front and Official Version, though they have a greatest hits album that is good)

Front Line Assembly: Convergence

KMFDM: Don't Blow Your Top

Ministry (dance industrial): The 12" Singles
Ministry (transition): Twitch (one of my favorite albums ever)
Ministry (metal industrial): The Land of Rape and Honey

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult: I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits

Nitzer Ebb: That Total Age

Revolting Cocks: Big Sexyland

I also have a few other things that were more "catchy" like A Split Second, Pailhead, Excessive Force, The Young Gods, Lead Into Gold, Greater Than One, Coil, Controlled Bleeding, Meat Beat Manifesto, and even Divine

There's a funky dance-industrial compilation called "Welcome to the Technodrome" from way back that's interesting.

Finally, if you can find the WaxTrax! box set "Black Box: The First 13 Years" it's a great 3CD sampler with a wide range of WaxTrax! artists.

 

[stymie miasma]

I have never been a huge industrial fan, but I was fortunate enough to see Neubauten in 1991. As Dusty hinted at, this was around their transistion period, but they still had a stage full of 48 gallon drums, iron pipes, angle grinders etc etc. I can't recall the specifics now, but it was an intense, pummeling performance.

Oh and Dusty...can you make your new avatar a bit bigger please?

MacDEF - whats going on with your avatar...last week robotman was in a blizzard - this week is he on stilts while in a blizzard??

Quote:

I also have a few other things that were more "catchy" like A Split Second, Pailhead, Excessive Force, The Young Gods, Lead Into Gold, Greater Than One, Coil, Controlled Bleeding, Meat Beat Manifesto, and even Divine

Paihead...I used to like them! They had that great song "I will refuse" right??

Godflesh and early Pitchshifter get lumped into the industrial pile a bit, and from what I have read, Ministry and NIN/Trent Reznor cite Godflesh as being influential to them in the early days. Godflesh's "Streetcleaner" is definately one to check out, as is "Pure".

Some say PS were Godflesh rip-offs, which is kinda true, but it was done admirably, and with more of a punk attitude. Their debut was actually called "Industrial" but it wasn't a well-executed piece of work in my opinion. Their mini/remix album "Submit" and follow-up full-length "Desensitised" are definately worth a listen. Most of their output after this was forgettable.

Another old-school act was SPK, but I don't really have much information on them other than they were Australian. And finally, anyone else here think Rammstein are a Laibach cover band??

 

[DarkAngel]

Mac
Thats a good list, some further comments:

-FLA, "convergence" is a good CD very hard to find now, "tactical nueral implant" is my favorite FLA CD.

-REVCO, "big sexy land" very similar to Ministry "twitch" which you really like so makes perfect sense. My fav REVCO Cd is "beers,steers,queers" which contains great tracks like "stainless steel providers"

-Ministry, Al Jourgensen pretty much disowns anything he did prior to "twitch" but there are some catchy new wave songs
he did like "every day is halloween" Al pretty much invented industrial metal with the CD "land of rape/honey" what a leap in style from "twitch" which gave a few hints of what was to follow.

-Front 242, we agree completely

-KMFDM, has some good stuff but every CD they have out has several weak tracks along with the good ones so you end up getting 2-3 Cds to make one good CD. That said they have some kick ass tracks like "drug against war + virus + godlike etc"

-TKK, haven't heard 1st CD but do own "kooler jesus + confessions of knife + sexplosion" all very enjoyable, Very campy stuff.

Stymie
-Pailhead = Al Jourgensen side project with guy from Fugazi.
-SPK, whish I could find the Cd "that voodoo age" contains great track called "metal dance" most of their stuff is very experimental and very hard to find.
-Rammstein is far superior to Laibach who had one decent Cd called "opus dei" which had a very militaristic theme to it but grows old fast.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by stymie miasma I have never been a huge industrial fan, but I was fortunate enough to see Neubauten in 1991. As Dusty hinted at, this was around their transistion period, but they still had a stage full of 48 gallon drums, iron pipes, angle grinders etc etc. I can't recall the specifics now, but it was an intense, pummeling performance.

Yeah, live they're still as great as they ever were. I was speaking more specifically about their recorded work. They've gone a little arthouse rock, even though they still use "industrial" instruments. FM Einheit, OTOH, does some really creepy experimental stuff live, at least the last time I saw him (which, now that I think about it, was many years ago, when he was touring with Caspar Brotzmann).

How could I have forgotten Nitzer Ebb? And KMFDM?

TKK were a little too ...erm... not serious about the music aspect of their career for me to care much about them.

And Controlled Bleeding, who have since gone a myriad of directions, but most especially noise and some dub and...well, each album is different. They're still putting stuff out.

Young Gods have gone a bit psychedelic since then, continuing in the direction of the experimental (for them) Heaven Deconstruction. They, too, are still putting stuff out. AMG page is completely out of date, find their web site.

Ah, yes, Twitch -- I've always wanted to cover "Angel" -- I already have the video all planned out and everything.

SPK -- "Metal Dance" is on Machine Age Voodoo, I believe, maybe that's why you're having trouble finding it? Also, weren't there two slightly different albums, the US version and the European version? I forget the details...
Quote:

Originally posted by stymie miasma Oh and Dusty...can you make your new avatar a bit bigger please?

Uh, no.

Oh, and guess what? I landed a copy of the Weakener album! Very good! The one track does not do the album justice. Very nice! Thanks for the rec.

 

[Snufkin]

Nothing quite like a bit of FLA or Leaether strip to get me in the mood for going out

Can't say I'm a big fan of VNV, it's all a bit "wanky" to me, but I don't mind a bit of Covenant, more dance, less wank.

Ministry/Skinny puppy are a little too thrashy for me, although I don't mind the track "thieves"

KMFDM have some good stuff and some not so good stuff, but that's not unusual, Front242 much the same (IMHO)


It's all mood based for me, I don't always want to listen to Industrial .. and I'm about to go read the John Hiatt thread

 

[dngl]

KMFDM's Nihil is pretty strong throughout and has some great tracks... I'd say it's one of industrial's greats.

 

[stymie miasma]

Quote:

FM Einheit, OTOH, does some really creepy experimental stuff live, at least the last time I saw him

Yes indeed...I have listened to one of his CDs (holographic cover image...blue and yellow???). With the lights out, this was CREEEEPY! Starts off with lovely birds chirping and fluttering around - all very pleasant - then a nasty, heavy breathing creeps in. And who would have thought the sound of heavy chains being spun through the air could sound so EVIL???

Edit: Ignore the above nonsense...I was actually thinking of Strafe fr - who the above comments apply to

Quote:

Oh, and guess what? I landed a copy of the Weakener album! Very good! The one track does not do the album justice. Very nice! Thanks for the rec.

No problems...glad you like it. It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea

Quote:

Rammstein is far superior to Laibach who had one decent Cd called "opus dei" which had a very militaristic theme to it but grows old fast

Hehe...just thought I'd throw that one in. I honestly haven't heard much Rammstein, but what I did hear immediately made me think of Laibach - purely on the basis of the germanic gutteral vocal delivery

What about the Beatles covers they did?? That was hysterical! (some friends who are die-hard Beatles fans were appalled however).

Other acts that I don't know a lot about but people might be able to enlighten me on:

Cabaret Voltaire
Foetus/Jim Thirwell

 

[MacDEF]

DA, you pretty much echoed my thoughts on all those things

I actually have quite a bit more (I have three RevCo CDs, a bunch more Ministry, some KMFDM -- yes, never a full album

-- and I have all but the most recent TKK CDs.

As for WaxTrax! artists, pretty much everything in the mid- to late-80s had some Al Jourgenen influence or connection. It's like "Six Degrees of Al J."

P.S. True story. Back in 1986 or 87, we went to see Ministry perform live at Medusa's. It was a "secret" show, and they (he) were actually playing under the pseudonym "Crash and Burn" -- after the song on Twitch. Everyone expected Twitch-era stuff, and possibly "Every Day is Halloween" (he was still playing it then). Suddenly the opening band came on... some group call "The Revolting Cocks" LOL But they really rocked! The people who were into the more dance stuff hated them, but I loved them.

Another band came on, but I can't remember who it was.

Then when Ministry finally came on, again, people were expecting the more "traditional" WaxTrax industrial stuff... they started the set by ripping into "You Know What You Are." People were absolutely stunned at first. The stuff off The Land of Rape and Honey was pretty revolutionary back then. But after the second song, people really got into it, and by the end of the show, the place was totally crazy.

That was one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to. I rememer when they shut Medusa's down -- I still have a piece of the wall that I tore off and took home with me the night of the Ministry concert

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

That was one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to. I rememer when they shut Medusa's down -- I still have a piece of the wall that I tore off and took home with me the night of the Ministry concert

Mac
In the 1980's I was a regular visitor to Medusas and King Tuts around the corner and Metro/Smart Bar, all within walking distance of each other. Also went to Exit, Neo, Lucky Number on a regular basis, like a vampire did not return home till the sun was about to rise. I must say I have been to 3-4 Ministry concerts in Chicago and they are the loudest group volume wise ever, earplugs are mandatory (first time I wore none and couldn't hear right for a couple days!)

EBM
Dusty mentioned this industrial style which I don't care for because of its dance oriented very repetitive beat structure,
includes groups like Funker Vogt, VNV nation, Nitzer Ebb, and many more. I do own a couple though Cubanate "cyberia" and
Nitzer Ebb "total age" (you only need one CD as every song is just slightly different) I also own Apoptygma bezerk "7" but I really wouldn't call that EBM style because of variety of styles used but it is dance oriented, also Pitchfork Project "Io" same comments.

 

[DarkAngel]

Snuff
Yeah "thieves" is great track, probably best on Ministry "mind" CD, love the drill sound effects and the violent tempo changes. Also like the nihilistic themes of some songs like "breathe, breathe you *******" you have no choice but to obey

Psalm 69 was the last good CD for Ministry, they moved from Chicago to Texas and it all went downhill from there.