Industrial Rock · Genres
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What is industrial rock?

Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused.

About industrial rock

The early fusions of industrial music and rock were practiced by a handful of post-punk groups, including Chrome, Killing Joke, Swans, and Big Black. Industrial rock artists generally employ the basic rock instrumentation of electric guitars, drums and bass and pair it with white noise blasts, electronic music gear (synthesizers, sequencers, samplers and drum machines).

From Last.fm, where 19,327 listeners have tagged music as industrial rock.

Artists to start with

  1. Nine Inch Nails
  2. KMFDM
  3. Orgy
  4. Filter
  5. Chemlab
  6. Snake River Conspiracy
  7. Bones UK
  8. Black Dresses
  9. Machines of Loving Grace
  10. DeathbyRomy

Albums to hear first

  • Blitz by KMFDMBlitzKMFDM
  • Symbols by KMFDMSymbolsKMFDM
  • WTF?! by KMFDMWTF?!KMFDM
  • Broken by Nine Inch NailsBrokenNine Inch Nails
  • Year Zero by Nine Inch NailsYear ZeroNine Inch Nails
  • Mechanical Animals by Marilyn MansonMechanical AnimalsMarilyn Manson
  • Cruel Melody by Black Light BurnsCruel MelodyBlack Light Burns
  • Smells Like Children by Marilyn MansonSmells Like ChildrenMarilyn Manson

Industrial Rock songs

  1. Closer by Nine Inch Nails
  2. The Hand That Feeds by Nine Inch Nails
  3. Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails
  4. Electric Molecular by Chemlab
  5. Megalomaniac by KMFDM
  6. March of the Pigs by Nine Inch Nails
  7. Heresy by Nine Inch Nails
  8. Hurt by Nine Inch Nails
  9. Sin by Nine Inch Nails
  10. Into the Void by Nine Inch Nails

Industrial Rock on Risocast

  • SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK by SEGA SOUND TEAMSHADOW THE HEDGEHOG OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACKSEGA SOUND TEAM · 2006
  • 999+09, Vol. 2 by Slank999+09, Vol. 2Slank · 1999
  • Stabilisers For Big Boys by PanchikoStabilisers For Big BoysPanchiko · 2000
  • Waking Up by Julien-KWaking UpJulien-K · 2006
  • Let's Go All The Way by The Wondergirls, Various ArtistsLet's Go All The WayThe Wondergirls, Various Artists · 1999

Neighbouring genres

In the rock & punk family. All genres

alternative rockrockcrust punkart rockart punkdeathrockindietronicaexperimental rockanarcho-punkglam rockgrungehard rock

Questions

What is industrial rock?
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused. The early fusions of industrial music and rock were practiced by a handful of post-punk groups, including Chrome, Killing Joke, Swans, and Big Black.
Who are the best-known industrial rock artists?
By Last.fm listening: Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Orgy, Filter, Chemlab and Snake River Conspiracy.
What genres are similar to industrial rock?
On Risocast it sits with alternative rock, rock, crust punk, art rock, art punk and deathrock.

Risocast is free. Install it once and it logs everything you play.

Download for WindowsFree · v4.0.9Open RisocastRight here · Spotify or Last.fm

Updated 6 October 2026

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A song counts once half of it has played, or four minutes — whichever comes first. Songs of 30 seconds or less, and videos or podcasts over 20 minutes, never count.

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It does the same core job — scrobbling, automatically — without plugins per player, and adds taste matching: see who listens like you and how much your taste overlaps.

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More in Help, the guides and the privacy policy.

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When a song countsAfter half its length, or four minutes, whichever comes first.Tracks under 30 seconds are ignored.Offline plays are counted on the device and sent later.

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Download for WindowsFree · v4.0.9Open RisocastRight here · Spotify or Last.fm
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