Throbbing Gristle may have been the spark that ignited "Industrial" music, but Germany's Einsturzende Neubauten took the idea to its natural conclusion. Creating rhythms and violent textures with scrap metal and other pieces of industrial detritus, then pairing them with unpredictable musical stridor, they captured post-war nihilism with a poignancy only equaled by Butoh choreographers like Kazuo Ohno and Hijikata.
Their first recording, Kollaps is an exercise in terror and psychic violence. Blixa Bargeld's angst-filled, caterwauling vocals, often indistinguishable from the guitars, percussion and power tools, is a solitary voice of torment. Each song is a radical change from the last; all were unlike anything else at the time. Through the 1990s, E.N. have tamed their homemade instruments and unique sound to produce refined, narrative pieces that focus more on their classical influences. Which, if you listen closely, were there all along.