Industrial Rock
Industrial · 1989 · 100 to 140 BPM · also known as Industrial Metal, Machine Rock
The American fusion of the 1990s: industrial vocabulary poured into the rock song format, sampled guitars, drum machines and stadium choruses. Nine Inch Nails is its author's version, Ministry its assault version, Marilyn Manson its spectacle version. This is the door through which industrial music entered mass culture, MTV included, turning a niche studio aesthetic into arena rock built for guitars as much as machines.
8 reference tracks
- Ministry: Thieves (1989)
- Godflesh: Like Rats (1989)
- Ministry: N W O (1992)
- KMFDM: A Drug Against War (1993)
- White Zombie: More Human than Human (1995)
- Marilyn Manson: The Beautiful People (1996)
- 3TEETH: American Landfill (2019)
- HEALTH & Nine Inch Nails: Isn't Everyone (2021)
At a glance
- Tempo: 100 to 140 BPM
- First appeared: around 1989
- Machines: Guitare électrique, Akai MPC, Native Instruments Massive
- The sound: Guitares samplées et bouclées, Akai MPC et samplers, Batterie hybride jouée-programmée, Production rock massive
- Labels: Sire, Nothing Records, Wax Trax! Records, The Null Corporation, Metropolis
- Key artists: Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, KMFDM, White Zombie
Producing Industrial Rock
Sit between 90 and 140 bpm across two feels, a heavy mid-tempo with a snare that lands like a hammer, and a fast one in the Ministry mold with double kick drumming, the groove rock at heart but stiffened by the machine, zero swing, sampled and played drums blended together. Build a hybrid kit, acoustic drum samples played with machine rigidity plus electronic elements, a tight, dry kick, an enormous snare through a room reverb, and crushed breakbeats sliced and retriggered on top. For bass, layer a sampled guitar riff, sliced and requantized for robotic rigidity, under a synth bass following the riff an octave down, or a fuzzed electric bass instead. Layer distorted, resequenced guitars, aggressive synth basses and leads, film dialogue samples, and a whispered verse vocal turning to a distorted, delayed scream in the chorus.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Industrial Rock?
The American fusion of the 1990s: industrial vocabulary poured into the rock song format, sampled guitars, drum machines and stadium choruses. Nine Inch Nails is its author's version, Ministry its assault version, Marilyn Manson its spectacle version. This is the door through which industrial…
What tempo is Industrial Rock played at?
Between 100 and 140 BPM.
Who are the key Industrial Rock artists?
Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Marilyn Manson, KMFDM, White Zombie.
In the same family
- Industrial
- EBM
- New Beat
- Electro-Industrial
- Dark Electro
- Aggrotech
- Futurepop
- Techno Body Music
- Coldwave
- Darkwave
- Neue Deutsche Haerte
- Power Electronics
Listen to Industrial Rock in the atlas · Cette page en français
