Tag: Industrial Rock

1990, Music

Naive (1990) by KMFDM

I am much more familiar with KMFDM’s later work, in the ’90s, as they got dancier and dancier and lapsed into self-parody. My experience of all that was further impacted by having a friend in high school who wore KMFDM t-shirts, which made them look so hardcore and threatening. And then I listen to them …

1995, Music

The Great Annihilator (1995) by Swans

I am still far from a Swans expert – though I have seen them in concert! – but I feel compelled to echo the comments of others about how this record feels either like “more accessible Swans” or some kind of hybrid of their ’80s sound with a more traditional approach to songwriting (at least …

1989, Music

The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (1989) by Ministry

“Thieves” gets things off to a pretty incredible start. Though this obviously isn’t the first industrial metal album, of even the first Ministry album to contain industrial metal, it still feels like this is pretty much as good as industrial metal got in the ’80s, with pummeling but mechanical-sounding guitars and all sorts of things …

1989, Music

This Is the Day…This Is the Hour…This Is This! (1989) by Pop Will Eat Itself

One of the weirdest things to happen during the alternative era is that period of time when British rock bands started incorporating sampling into their music (and occasionally rap). The more of this music I stumble upon, the more I want to read a book about the whole scene because it’s kind of weird, right? …

1993, Music

Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993) by Depeche Mode

At this point I have heard enough synthpop (and enough Depeche Mode) to understand how this record breaks from that tradition (much like the previous record, Violator, also does), and so I feel like I might actually have something decent to say about it, unlike when I first listened to Violator.

1993, Music

www.pitchshifter.com (1998)

I do not know anywhere near enough about ’90s industrial or the British electronica scene to have any real idea of the context this record was made in but I can tell you it sounds insanely ’90s. Imagine a more political, perhaps slightly less articulate Nine Inch Nails, mixed with The Prodigy and maybe you …

1987, Music

Songs About Fucking (1987) by Big Black

What probably sounded unbelievably loud – not to mention offensive to a lot of people – has mellowed considerably nearly thirty years later. So much of this record (or even the band’s oeuvre, perhaps) has integrated into alternative rock and even some indie rock. Hell, it doesn’t even sound very noisy compared to what’s being …