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The Crowbar covering Kraftwerk shtick gradually gave way to a full fledged embracing ofextreme metal and industrial soundscapes resulting in some of the best and most out therealbums the genre has offered to date (Cold Dark Matter 2001, Sick Transit Gloria Mundi2002). Lately though signs of redundancy have begun to appear.STRAPPING YOUNG LAD exploded on the scene with their furious debut (though featuringmetal wise man Devin Townshend and drum god Gene Hoglan) but it was the cyber thrashmasterpiece City (1997) that cemented their position as miles ahead of the scene in sheerferocity and songwriting. Devin has since released a large number of albums under thismonicker and other names that effortlessly bring together industrial, progressive rock, melodicmetal and even dream-rock.There is even a band catering to the more fetish-oriented consumer for this genre. I meanTHE GENITORTURERS who have stuck to their cock-metal gone industrial as envisionedby De Sade formula and eventually even got David Vincent (yes that Vincent!) in their folds,mostly due to his wife(!!) fronting the outfit. It’s an impressive run of albums and ‘interesting’live shows that shows a band finding a formula and adhering to it.The tail end of the decade saw widespread embracing of the industrial/ electronica aestheticby a number of European bands, many of whom had originally broken new ground withblack metal, often to the horror of the ‘troo’ crowd. Each interpreted the influence in aunique manner, often resulting in some of themost twisted sounds to come out of the genre.THE KOVENANT started out as a typical black metal band destined with 2 records straightfor the bargain bins had they not suddenly had a industrial avant-garde revelation on theirthird release (Animatronic 1999). Elements of thrash and electronica found place alongsidethe more extreme metal influences to give birth to a unique cyber sound. S.E.T.I (2003)found them further exploring space and synthesizers while remaining quite catchy. Theirnew album is eagerly awaited by those who enjoy experimental metal worldwide.ABORYM have been terrorizing the extreme metal community since 1999 (Kali Yuga Bizarre),but they really found their own sound with Fire walk With Us (2001), a nearly perfectmix of black metal and industrial elements. The next album (With No Human Intervention2003) continued on a similar sonic path, and Generator (2006) has found them delving furtherinto insanity while still retaining their industrial black metal roots.A band with a rather strange progression,SAMAEL went from a basic satanic cultblack metal phenomena (Worship Him1991, Blood Ritual 1992) to extreme metalsongwriters extraordinaire (Ceremony of