Industrial metal, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 What you asked about
Industrial metal 1988
Metal riffs over programmed drums, samples and synths. Mechanical by design.
Sung and screamed. Clean singing and harsh vocals trade off, often chorus against verse.
Put on
Godflesh - Streetcleaner. It sounds like an industrial city collapsing, which is the subject.
Godflesh, Streetcleaner (1989) - 3 Where to go next
Neue Deutsche Härte 1994
The German version: simple heavy riffs, danceable synths, declaimed German vocals and a great deal of pyrotechnics.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Rammstein - Mutter. Flawless production and their best set of songs.
Rammstein, Mutter (2001)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Industrial metal descends from, in order. The last step is the gentlest of Industrial metal's 2 subgenres - least harsh vocals first, then least heavy.