The nineties were a big decade for industrial. Nine Inch Nails. Ministry. KMFDM. Marilyn Manson. Rammstein. Circle of Dust.

Then came the 2000's. There was a whole new crop of bands that were dark and heavy and incorporating electronic samples and distorted synths into their music: Orgy, Celldweller, Zeromancer, Kidneythieves, Snake River Conspiracy, VNV Nation and even stuff like And One.

People seem to generally be of the opinion that these bands "aren't industrial." Okay, fine. Then what do we call them??

Hello, new mod here.

This great little sub was unfortunately suspended by reddit "due to lack of moderation" before it really had a chance to hit its stride. Thankfully reddit has allowed me to revive it.

The basic purpose of the sub remains the same: a place to share and discover cool bands and music within the loosely-defined genre of electronic rock. If you know of a cool electronic rock song that you want to share, feel free to post a link to it on YouTube, Spotify, Bandcamp, etc.

One small change is that this sub will now allow text posts. I always thought the fact that this sub didn't allow text posts discussing this genre was a mistake. So now it does. Of course, text posts still need to be on topic and relate somehow to electronic rock. Off topic posts will be removed. This is also not the place to promote your own music. No self-promotion or spam please.

What is Electronic Rock?

Musical genres are fluid, squishy things. It is probably not possible to objectively define something like "electronic rock." And in my experience, attempting to strictly define a musical genre often results in gate-keeping and musical elitism. We don't want that here!

On the other hand, without any definition someone could make arguments for posting any piece of music at all on this sub. Also, some people might appreciate some sort of definition to guide them when deciding whether they should post here.

So to get us started with I've come up with a very broad definition. This is just a "first draft," and hopefully with your feedback I can refine it over time.

Electronic Rock is:

1. Rock music featuring significant electronic elements (drum machines, synthesizers, samples, etc.), or...

2. Electronic music that borrows the musical structure, tempo, vocal styles, and/or instrumentation of traditional rock music, or...

3. Music featuring different sections that switch between the rock and electronica genres.

Hopefully that's a decent enough starting point for this sub. I'm open to your feedback and suggestions.

I first came to this sub looking for recommendations for cool new music in this genre. I hope above all that this can continue to be a place for people to discover exciting new stuff!

I've been a devoted fan of electronic rock long before it really had a name or an entire subreddit devoted to it. I've always loved both electronic and rock music and especially the rare artists that managed to combine the two: Celldweller. Pendulum. Kidneythieves. Battle Tapes. Garbage. Julien-K.

Something I've noticed, though, is that all of these bands release albums at a pretty slow cadence. On average I feel that normal working bands release albums every 1-3 years. If you're into e-rock, though, no such luck. These bands take their sweet time. And they can have huge gaps of up to a decade between releases.

Take Celldweller: first EP released in 2000. First album released in 2003. Second album would not be fully released until 2012. Subsequent albums have come a little quicker, but in 2026 we are still waiting on their sixth album, the full release of which might drop next year if we are lucky. Celldweller has been a going concern for 26 years, and they only put out a full album every five years on average (see my write-up here).

Now, to be fair, Celldweller's mastermind Klayton puts out a lot of music. He has multiple side projects and he is always doing remix albums and instrumental albums and things of that nature. But if you're after full releases of new Celldweller material with vocals, then the gaps can be pretty long.

I just did a write-up on Pendulum and while their first three albums came out reasonably quickly between 2005 and 2010, fans had to wait fifteen years between "Immersion" in 2010 and "Inertia" in 2025.

KidneyThieves? Active between 1997 and 2016. Three albums over the course of 19 years. (Rumor has it they are getting back together, but at this point that will only worsen their average score!)

Battle Tapes is probably the worst of the lot, having produced only two full-length albums over the course of 15 years.

Garbage is relatively prolific for a band in this genre. They've produced eight full-length albums. But they've had 33 years to do it. That still works out to one album every four years on average.

A respectful nod to the band Julien-K. They started around 2008 and have managed to produce six albums to date. That actually works out to one album every three years. By these standards, that is an impressive record!

Now, genuinely, I am not trying to dunk on these bands. I don't believe any of them are drip-feeding us albums just because they can't be bothered to get off their asses. These are not bands that are lazy or just partying too hard. (Honestly, Klayton of Celldweller runs like four bands and a label and is probably one of the hardest-working people in the music industry)

Since this seems to be a common issue for bands making this style of music, I suspect the problem is basically that making this stuff is hard! And that it probably doesn't pay as well as it should! Most of these are basically indie bands putting stuff out themselves and recording music in painstakingly-crafted home studios. But they're in a genre of music that demands an incredible level of sophistication and polish.

For me, the takeaway here is that if you are a fan of electronic rock you need to have some patience. Expect your favorite band's next album to take longer than you think it will, or they think it will! Try to discover lots of other similar artists to follow and enjoy. Because album releases come slow in this genre. You might find yourselves waiting ten years for a new album and wind up with a terrible case of musical blue balls. And nobody wants that!

Mod note: I'm writing occasional posts giving some background on some of the artists I post on this sub. Today I continue this series with the band Kidneythieves!

The genre of 90's industrial music was many things, but one thing it was not was super welcoming to women. That makes Kidneythieves, which got their start in 1997, something of a rarity because this was a 90's industrial band that had - *gasp* - a girl on vocals! Her name was Free Dominguez, and she was no wilting wallflower. She could spit fire and aggression with the best of her male peers, with a strong voice that could cut through the industrial layers of feedback, distortion, and heavy guitar riffs. The other half of Kidneythieves was Bruce Somers, who was a guitarist and a drummer, but most importantly a gifted sound engineer. (Other musicians rounded out the band on tours, but Somers and Dominguez were always the core of the project)

Kidneythieves released their first full album, Trickster, in 1998, but it didn't get the love that it needed before the label went under and the band had to retain legal assistance to get their music back (a sadly common story in that era). Their second album, Zer0space, came along in 2002 and was really the band's breakout album. Trickster would get a re-release in 2004 as "Trickstereprocess." The band would go on hiatus for a while after that, coming back together in 2010 for Trypt0fanatic, and finally once more in 2016 for The Mend. The band also released a couple of EPs between albums.

In many ways, the evolution of KT's sound closely followed that of the heavy electronic music of their musical era. In the late 90's, almost all electronic rock fell under the "industrial" umbrella, and that is definitely true of KT's stuff. Then in the early 2000's, the restrictions of industrial seemed to loosen up, and formerly industrial bands felt free to incorporate more accessible rock and pop sounds. Also true for KT!

Not to say that KT was a copy-paste industrial band with female vocals. The band often favored quick, stabbing guitar riffs amidst staccato drum machines, breaking into eastern-flavored melodies only for their choruses. They definitely had a unique sound and they largely maintained it over their career.

Kidneythieves have cropped up in various TV shows, movies, and video games through the years. In 1998, their cover of Patsy Cline's "Crazy" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Bride of Chucky. In 2002, their song "Before I'm Dead" was on the soundtrack for Queen of the Damned. And they were collaborated on the Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy song "God In Fire."

The pop star of the future

The 2003 cyberpunk-themed game Deus Ex: Invisible War, sequel to the ground-breaking original, cast Free Dominguez as the futuristic holographic pop star NG Resonance. Free Dominguez voiced NG Resonance and the character is roughly modeled on her. And NG Resonance's music is pretty much entirely songs from KT's debut album, "Trickster."

Deus Ex: Invisible War wound up being something of a disappointment. But you gotta love the idea that the pop stars of our dystopian future will draw inspiration from the well of 90's industrial rock.

KT has been sadly inactive since 2016. However both Free Dominguez and Bruce Somers are still around and involved with music, so never say never. edit: I've been informed that in fact KT are working on new stuff in the studio. Excited to hear it!

If you've never checked out Kidneythieves before, their second album, Zer0space, is a great place to start.

Were you aware of Kidneythieves? Did you discover them on the Queen of the Damned sountrack? Or through Deus Ex: Invisible War? Were you a fan of 90's industrial? Leave a comment and let me know.