Electronic Innovation Meets the Raw Power of Heavy Metal - Industrial Metal Music

Industrial metal blends a range of influences from heavy metal to electro-industrial and noise music, while typically remaining within standard rock conventions and song structures. Since its beginnings, the genre has been controversial among both fans of other industrial genres and metal fans alike; those who favor other styles of industrial music have denounced it as a "watered-down version of 'true' industrial music," and many fans of other metal genres object to the widespread use of synthesizers and electronic instruments. Despite this controversy, the industrial metal scene has spawned numerous platinum-selling artists and bands with millions of albums being sold worldwide and influenced artists from across the entire musical spectrum.

Musically, industrial metal combines heavy metal guitar riffs with synthesizer leads and production techniques commonly used for other genres of industrial music. Consequently, the music equipment used by industrial metal bands typically includes both hardware and software synthesizers in addition to electric guitars and guitar effects processors. Drums are often acoustic, electronic or a mixture of both. Somewhat uncommon in industrial music, it is usually performed live with a full band, following the standard "rock band lineup," including a lead singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboardist.

Combining guitar melodies with industrial elements was a big departure from the anti-rock sentiments of most early industrial acts of the 1980s. Bands who embraced this approach included Nine Inch Nails, Fear Factory, Ministry and KMFDM. This more accessible sound soon found a large following in North America among fans of other guitar-oriented music.

Though industrial metal enjoyed a degree of mainstream success throughout the late 1990s, this would eventual fade by the turn of the century. A number of the genre's leading bands broke up or were dropped by major labels around this time. Today it has a considerably smaller audience, based mostly in the United States and Europe. Nonetheless, bands such as Nine Inch Nails remain popular today and continue to play sold-out shows around the world.

Taylor is a contributor at Alternative-Electronics.com, the most comprehensive resource online for the music equipment used in alternative electronic music. Read more about industrial metal bands.

Music History - Industrial Rock - Origins, Influential Bands and Equipment

Industrial rock arose at end of the 1970s as a number of rock and post-punk bands started to use synthesizers to add an industrial feel to their guitar-based music. The genre draws influences from a number of sources, including noise music and electro-industrial as well as post-punk and traditional rock music. It is often mistaken for industrial metal, which is a separate industrial genre that did not develop until nearly a decade later.

Early industrial rock was made by a number of bands, including groups such as Killing Joke, SPK, Einst?rzende Neubauten, Die Krupps and Test Dept. The work of these bands would later have an impact on the development of the genre and industrial music as a whole. Certain releases by influential industrial metal bands like as Nine Inch Nails can also be taken as examples of industrial rock. Other popular bands that have contributed to the genre in one way or another include Gary Numan, KMFDM, Celldweller and Gravity Kills. The American band Filter has also had considerable commercial success.

Since the genre draws heavily on influences from rock and post-punk as well as the world of electronic music, industrial rock bands often use a mixture of both acoustic and electronic music gear. Some of the most widely-used pieces of music equipment used in the genre are Digidesign Pro Tools, Apple Logic, the Sherman Filterbank, the Kurzweil K2000 and Clavia Nord Lead. The genre features frequent use of effects processors and industrial production techniques to distort recorded guitar riffs and acoustic drums in ways not usually found in other rock music genres.

Similar to industrial metal, industrial rock experienced its peak of commercial success in the 1990s, especially in North America. Since then, popular interest in the genre has faded considerably.

Taylor is a contributor at Alternative-Electronics.com, the most comprehensive resource online for the music equipment used in alternative electronic music, where you can also read more about industrial rock bands.

Nine Inch Nails - Industrial Music For the Masses

Nine Inch Nails is an industrial solo project of Trent Reznor formed in 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio. Reznor's musical style is a mix between industrial rock and industrial metal with some occasional electro-industrial and noise elements. Early industrial bands like Throbbing Gristle and Skinny Puppy were the major musical influences that impacted the development of Reznor's sound.

Nine Inch Nails, or NIN for short, is unquestionably the most commercially successful industrial music project to date, with over 20 million records sold worldwide (more than half of these in the United States). Despite this popularity, numerous disputes have arisen between Reznor and record companies over the years. Major disagreements included a feud with TVT Records, the first record label to sign Nine Inch Nails over intellectual property rights and a dispute with MTV over imagery planned to be used by the band during a live performance. These disagreements culminated in 2007 with Reznor ending his recording contract with Universal Music Group and continuing as a free artist. The band's eighth studio album, The Slip, was later released as a free download in 2008.

Although Reznor has the last say regarding the band's music, he has performed live with a rotating crew of musicians. Nine Inch Nails' live setup has changed over the years but typically remained within the conventions of typical rock band lineups with a live drummer, guitarists, bassists and keyboard players and Reznor himself performing lead vocals, guitars and synthesizers.

In late 2009 Trent Reznor announced an end to Nine Inch Nails as a live band. Hundreds of pieces of music gear used by the band were consequently auctioned off on eBay, though he has continued to release new material.

Taylor is a contributor at Alternative Electronics, the most comprehensive resource online for the music equipment used in alternative electronic music, where you can also read more about industrial rock.