Pop/Rock » Heavy Metal » Industrial Metal

While pure industrial takes its primary cues from experimental music and electronic dance, Industrial Metal makes the distorted noise of electric guitars a crucial part of the music. Some industrial metal bands base their songs around metal-style guitar riffs, while others use the instrument more for the harsh, abrasive textures it can create. Either way, industrial metal generally possesses greater aggressive force than straight-ahead industrial, which helped the style cross over to metal and alternative audiences accustomed to guitar-driven music. Industrial metal lyrics also mirror the darkness and aggression of standard heavy metal, although the sensibility is filtered through the personal alienation of punk and alternative rock. Whether its rage is turned inward at the self or outward at society, industrial metal is unremittingly bleak and angst-ridden, using its pounding walls of noise as expressions of near-hopeless alienation from the rest of the world. Ministry was the first band to popularize industrial metal in the late '80s, basing their signature grind on countless repetitions of jackhammer guitar riffs, as well as electronics, samples, and distorted vocals; however, it was Nine Inch Nails that really brought the sound to the mainstream during the early '90s, thanks to Trent Reznor's flair for melodic songwriting and multi-layered production. In the wake of NIN's success, a number of similar-sounding bands popped up on alternative radio, and toward the end of the decade, a number of popular alternative metal bands appropriated industrial metal's electronic production touches into their hybrid of aggressive music styles.