Aggrotech Music: 3 Characteristics of Aggrotech

Aggrotech is an offshoot of industrial music that folds elements of hardcore electronic dance music (EDM) into a dissonant mix of distorted vocals, synth lines, and dark lyrical matter. Both aggrotech and the Goth/horror-influenced dark electro were subgenres of electro-industrial music, which split away from the industrial music scene in the early 1980s.

Aggrotech also goes by other names, including hellektro, harsh EBM, and terror EBM.

Aggrotech took root in North America and Europe during the 1990s:

• Beginnings: Aggrotech emerged as part of a schism in industrial music, which spawned two subgenres in the early 1980s: electronic body music (EBM) and electro-industrial. Both music genres featured repetitive bass lines and EDM-influenced beats, but electro-industrial’s version was grittier, with distorted vocals and harsh, ominous-sounding beats. Bands in the electro-industrial scene included the veteran Canadian industrial groups Skinny Puppy and Front Line Assembly, Germany’s KMFDM and Wumpscut, Denmark’s Leather Strip, and Velvet Acid Christ from Denver, Colorado.
• Dark electro emerges: Some electro-industrial bands, like Skinny Puppy and Dawn of Ashes, added guitars to their sound, which pushed them closer to industrial metal. Others, like Germany’s Haujobb, adopted elements of EDM like glitch and drums and bass. A third offshoot pursued soundscapes influenced by horror and occult themes; this genre, called dark electro, emerged in the early 1990s and included bands like Placebo Effect and yelworC.
• Birth of aggrotech: A new electro-industrial subgenre replaced dark-electro in the mid-1990s. It drew elements from its predecessors: the heavy synth lines and aggressive vocals of electro-tech, EDM elements like glitch from acts like Haujobb, and confrontational, explicit lyrics from dark electro.
• Aggrotech worldwide: Aggrotech bands sprung up worldwide: The United States produced Combichrist, Dawn of Ashes, Psyclon Nine, Tactical Sekt, and Erica Null, who performed as Unter Null, while Feindflug, Virtual Embrace, and Thomas Rainer’s solo project, Nachtmahr, came from Germany. Mexico produced several aggrotech bands, including Hocico, Agonoize, Cenobita, and Amduscia, as did the Benelux Union, which produced Holland’s Grendel, Tamtrum from Aix-en-Provence, and Suicide Commando from Belgium.

Several distinct characteristics define aggrotech, including:

1. 1. Look: The rivethead subculture from the electro-industrial and EBM scenes inform the aggrotech look. Many aggrotech bands, such as Alien Vampires, Agonoize, and the French-Canadian duo Detroit Diesel, have adopted the rivethead aesthetic of punk- and fetish-inspired clothing and hair and military garb. Some aggrotech acts, like German DJ Jan Loamfield’s X-Fusion, do not dress in rivethead fashion.
2. 2. Lyrics and vocals: Lyrical content in aggrotech songs is invariably dark. The subject matter can range from angry rants against political or social ills, occult and horror-themed material, or raw bursts of emotion on love and life gone wrong. Shouts or screams serve as vocals that are often distorted or pitch-shifted.
3. 3. Sound: Aggrotech’s name defines its sound: an aggressive approach to techno. The sound mixes the fast, intense pace of hardcore EDM beats with synthesizer lines and EDM-oriented elements, like glitch and static.

There are numerous notable aggrotech artists, including:

1. 1. Aesthetic Perfection: Composer/performer Daniel Graves is the primary force behind the industrial music project Aesthetic Perfection. He devoted seven albums to the sound, which mixes aggrotech and dance music with alternative rock, between 2005 and 2019; Graves released the last of these, 2019’s Into the Black, on his own label, Close to Human Music. A remix artist, he’s worked with other aggrotech acts, including Combichrist and God Module, and mainstream artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.
2. 2. Grendel: The Dutch aggrotech band Grendel has drawn praise for its original and eclectic approach to the genre’s uncompromising sound. The band’s eight albums, released between 2001 and 2019, feature relentless beats mixed with orchestration, unusual and original sample work, and lyrics addressing political and personal ills.
3. 3. Skinny Puppy: A seminal act in the history of industrial and electro-industrial music. Vancouver’s Skinny Puppy and its leaders, multi-instrumentalist cEvin Key and vocalist Nivek Ogre, have influenced a generation of rock, industrial, goth, and metal acts. Many of the tenets of aggrotech, from the fusion of industrial, New Wave, and noise music to the horror-themed lyrics and stage presentation, originated with Skinny Puppy.
4. 4. Suicide Commando: Belgian musician Johan van Roy launched his aggrotech group Suicide Commando in 1986 and has remained a prolific figure in the scene for more than three decades. The band has earned a cult reputation for its ferocious sound and extreme subject matter.

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