Industrial Dance

Industrial dance grew out of electronic body music (EBM), and features only a few main distinctions. Industrial dance music still focuses on sparse, danceable beats, but it has a more aggressive and harsh feel to it, typically accomplished either through the use of guitars or through more extreme distortion in the vocals. Industrial dance also tends to have additional melodic elements incorporated into the synthesizer portion of the music; EBM is more minimalist.

Lyrically and visually, industrial dance tends to reside on the darker side of the underground dance scene, dealing with themes like death, violence, and sadomasochism. A number of groups are also clearly influenced by martial music, drawing inspiration from military marches and using war imagery as a motif throughout lyrics, album art and live performances (such as Funker Vogt).

Artists such as :wumpscut:, Front Line Assembly, and Leæther Strip originally helped to craft the sound that branched industrial dance off from EBM. Leading the way today are groups like Combichrist, with Andy LaPlegua's ultra-aggressive, repetitive beats and macabre imagery reenergizing the club scene, and Razed In Black, where Romell Regulacion's multi-instrumental talents create innovative ways to incorporate guitars into electronic dance music without overpowering the synthesized elements.

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