Industrial

Industrial metal fuses metal’s riffs with the machinery of industrial music — drum machines, samples, synths, and a cold, mechanical production — for a harsh, dystopian sound. Britain’s Godflesh pioneered the template with drum-machine beats and depth-charge bass, and Ministry, Fear Factory, and Rammstein pushed it in different directions through the 1990s. Riffs are heavy and repetitive, rhythms precise and pounding, and themes often dwell on technology, control, and alienation. It sounds like metal built in a factory.