Early industrial music was rooted in the bleak, factory-inspired soundscapes of Euroopean post-punk bands like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, and Einsturzende Neubauten. As technology improved in the early '80s, artists like Skinny Puppy and Front 242 who took inspiration from these proto-industrial pioneers began utilizing synthesizers and drum machines to create a new, mechanical form of sullen dance music. When other musicians began blending these gloomy, alienated beats with heavy metal guitars, industrial metal was born. Grindcore pioneer Godflesh was among the first to utilize sequenced beats with distorted guitars, while Ministry further refined the formula with its late '80s albums The Land of Rape and Honey and The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste. Nine Inch Nails found success on alternative dance floors with its landmark debut album Pretty Hate Machine and went on to become the most successful industrial artist of all time, even as its music became more aggressive and alienated. NIN's meteoric rise and the increasing availability of sophisticated electronic sequencers helped establish a diverse new school of indudstrial metal in the '90s, which ranged from the schlock-horror of Marilyn Manson to the punishing repetition of Lard.

Notable Artists: Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Coal Chamber, God Lives Underwater, Fear Factory