Aggrotech
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Aggrotech is a term that surfaced in the mid-1990s to describe industrial music that was typified by somewhat harsh song structures, aggressive beats and lyrics of a militant, pessimistic or explicit nature. Typically, the vocals are distorted to sound hoarse, harsh and without tone. Artists also frequently use atonal melodic structures.
The style had mostly died out by the end of the decade with the rise of synthpop and futurepop, but has experienced a recent surge in popularity and proliferation. Both aggrotech and power noise have become more common at goth and industrial clubs as a reaction to the domination of bands presenting much lighter fare, such as VNV Nation, the torch-bearer of the futurepop movement. The most surprising turn of events seems to be that most of the classic artists of the original aggrotech movement have drifted away from their aggressive style and towards a more accessible, EBM-style sound, leaving the current movement populated almost entirely by newcomers. The genre is sometimes also referred to as terror EBM, among other terms.
Aggrotech artists
Examples of artists that could be considered aggrotech include Aghast View, Suicide Commando, Wumpscut, Psyclon Nine, Hocico and Virtual Embrace. Older acts such as Aghast View and Wumpscut have restructured their format into a mellower, less edgy style of music, while new acts like Psyclon Nine and Virtual Embrace have revitalized the genre to an extent.