VMP Magazine

Industrial music is melody fashioned from noise. It’s the ratio of the former to the latter that ultimately determines what that sounds like. In the U.K. in the 1970s, industrial was born of provocative performance artists like Throbbing Gristle, who combined controversial images with music that leaned far from pop structures, instead employing drones, improvisation, spoken word and harsh noise. Over time that sensibility evolved into something still harrowing, still darkly haunting, yet more melodic and structured. In less than two decades, industrial went from exploitation film reels in warehouses to prime time on MTV.

The mention of industrial more than 40 years after its genesis likely brings to mind one of two ideas: the free-form noise art of its earliest years, or the goth-club pulse of Ministry and Nine Inch Nails. But it’s everything that’s happened in between that has made industrial an even more interesting and fertile genre for artistic exploration. Here are 10 of the best albums to come from its fascinating evolution.