zak52

Which was the point I was trying to make. Back in the late 80's probably up to the very early 90's industrial was very accesible to everybody. Practically every club would play it. It was played on the radio quite a bit. Now it's not played anywhere. I just think you throw any band that plays electronic music into the industrial genre.
BTW those bands you listed are pretty much Front 242 clones except KMFDM.

raithen

I don't know what planet you live on, but the Industrial genre was never big here or anywhere in North America. There are countless articles and histories that deal with industrial, ebm and synthpop all over the net that are quite eye-opening about the lack of an explosion on this side of the Atlantic. Do check out the articles by Mark Nicholas (Cosmicity) on http://www.synthpop.net for some interesting insights into the industry. And check out http://www.side-line.com for the latest news on the state of electronic music. I'm sure you'll be quite surprised to see that things are much healthier than you first surmised.

And while it's true that a band like KMFDM had some exposure in the early 90's, sure as sh*t they weren't played with any kind of consistancy on the radio.

Quote:

BTW those bands you listed are pretty much Front 242 clones except KMFDM.

I suggest you pick up Apop's "Harmonizer", PPF's "Daimonion", VNV's "Futureperfect", Seabound's "No Sleep Demon", etc. and then come back to me with that comparison. Your credibility is starting to show serious cracks my friend!

While there is no doubt that Front 242 has influenced virtually every EBM/industrial act out there, the bands I listed are most certainly NOT clones. That's like saying 242 are Kraftwerk substitutes! Were they influenced by that seminal German electronic act? Absolutely. Did they rip them off? Please...

-matt

zak52

That's nice you can talk for all of North America. In the late 80's to early 90's there were so many industrial bands coming through the area. Now there's hardly any playing live. Why is that? I've seen Ministry, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM all play in front of several thousand people. It wasn't any synthpop festival either. Ministry and Nine Inch Nails with more than 10,000 people. Bands like the Young Gods, Die Warsau, A Split Second to name a few were constantly coming through. Hell Al Jourgensen alone probably made industrial music bigger than it is now.

raithen

Beyond Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, none of the bands you just listed have had more than a modicum of success. I suppose I can give you the possible exception of KMFDM. But the rest, playing in front of thousands of people? Methinks you are over-estimating their success on these shores.

As for Al Jourgenson - give me a break. Ministry hadn't been truly industrial since the mid-80s. They turned into a thrash-metal band after a brief brilliant period and have sucked major arse ever since. I'd give more credit to Trent Reznor - sadly enough.

If you want a list of bands consistantly "coming through", perhaps you should check out the following acts:

And One
Angels & Agony
Das Ich
Epsilon Minus
Evils Toy
Hocico
Icon Of Coil
In Strict Confidence
Ivory Frequency
Ladytron
etc.
etc.

I'd be extremely surprised if any of your yesteryear acts reached the album sales that bands such as Apop or VNV are currently enjoying today - at any point in their careers.

As for bands touring, there are bands constantly touring all over North America. Synthpop, industrial, ebm - you name it. Sure they're not selling out 10,000 seat venues, but the only band I can think of who actually did that was (and still is!) NiN.

And as for me talking for "all of North America" - I didn't realize I was doing that. I don't see the need to, with MAJOR success stories such as the aforementioned A Different Drum and Metropolis labels and various major websites dedicated to the scene springing up in the last few years. But that being said, if you think I am speaking for NA, then we have a case of the pot calling the kettle black, as you have stated that industrial is dead.

Hrmmm...

To each his/her own... but I find it ironic that you think that the scene is dead when in actual fact, it's anything but. You state that the bands I've listed are 242 clones - that alone tells me what your current knowledge of the scene (or even the genre itself!) consists of...

-matt

Venom

Ministry's new album is coming out soon (2/18).

anyway industrial has been dead, but there are quite a few popular bands, of which i don't really care for. i am much more of a metal-industrial fan.

Acumen (Nation): Fifth Colvmn. Put out last year is a great album.
Pigface just released a new album.

some other bands still around; 16volt, Chemlab (might be getting back together or something), Iron Lung Corp., Contingence, Pittbull daycare, Monkey's with Handguns, Slick Idiot (the good Half (ex) of KMFDM) , Bile, Dkay.com (Die Krupps). that's all i can think of at the moment.

atlantamoi

Missed this thread the first go-round. In my mind, the first truly GREAT heavy hitting ind. album is Ministry's "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste".

kefrank

i'm not sure if you're joking or not, but that's a somewhat commonly perpetuated myth. they have some extremely radical ideas regarding politics and art, but they aren't nazis or neo-nazis. that rumor gets perpetuated, because they have used quite a bit of fascist imagery in their art, including some based on nazi propaganda as well as anti-nazi propaganda.

laibach is one of the most interesting and original industrial bands out there in my opinion. any of their live albums are excellent for fans of the noise-art that industrial started out as. their studio albums are also generally very good and incorporate so many different elements. their satirizing cover albums are both hilarious and interesting, particularly Let It Be.

another great noise-oriented industrial act is blackhouse.

as far as the more "new-school" techno-industrial-metal type of sound i'm a pretty big fan of these two albums:
Argyle Park - Misguided
Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired

Johan.E

For me there is ONLY Einstürzende Neubauten!

mndtrp

I didn't realize this was old, until I saw the post about Ministry's new album coming out.

Industrial music is still around, and not doing too bad. Nothing is selling out 10,000 people, but there are still tours and festivals all over America.

Combichrist is probably one of the biggest at the moment. I like this style, although it's simplistic and the lyrics are atrocious.
I like Psycolon Nine's type of industrial, as well.

Overall, I can't really get into the extremely noisy stuff, yet the things that move too far into synthpop I find too boring.

A few I like, as I scroll through my ipod:
Aesthetic Perfection
Diversant:13
Doomsday Refreshment Committee
Fabious Corpus Act
Flesh Field
[:SITD:]

Both Fabious Corpus Act and Diversant:13 have their albums legally for free here: http://line.alter-x.net/releases_11.htm
Flesh Field here: http://www.flesh-field.com/FleshFieldFrameset-2.htm

hal9000

Die Krupps
Nitzer Ebb Belief (& everything up to Big Hit)
Front 242 (everything up to the Sony years)

Kraftwerk although one of my top ten all time favorite bands I wouldn't categorize as industrial they're far to poppy. Electronic yes, Industrial no.