Industrial Metal

Loud guitars have long been a staple of the Industrial sound, but in the late '80s, Industrial bands such as Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM dramatically increased the riff factor by attacking their guitars with the aggression and intensity of card-carrying metalheads. Ministry's groundbreaking album The Land of Milk and Honey signaled a paradigm shift with its screeching, howling guitars and pummeling beats. Meanwhile, KMFDM took advantage of sampling technology by using other bands' riffs over their own dance beats. On the other side of the Atlantic, U.K. bands Godflesh, Scorn and Fudge Tunnel created oppressively heavy molten flows of downtuned noise. Conversely, '90s shock-industrial acts Marilyn Manson and Rammstein added a pop sheen, bringing the Industrial Metal sound into the mainstream.