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Strawman, You think Techno sounds bad? You havent heard ANYTHING yet! I listen to New-School EBM and Electro-Industrial. This stuff, in comparison to Techno, makes your ears just fucking BLEED! New School EBM is descended from old school EBM, which was actually the underground precursor to techno. EBM was minimalist, stripped down, mean and militant with a shouty vocal line and mechanical, analogue-ish synths. However in comparison to modern techno it is actually more complex sonically, but more monotone. Generally the beats are heavy, but not exactly harsh, usually around 120-130 bpm and have a 4/4 structure. The synths have a straight-foward, driving quality. The band that created this style of music was Front 242. Other notables are Nitzer Ebb and BiGod 20. New School EBM keeps the harsh, driving synths and adds the melodic, operatic synths that are akin to Anthem Trance. The beats are heavier, and some more distortion is often used than old-school EBM. However, the vocals are often more emotive and 'gothic,' and this, coupled with the melodic synths, tends to make the style seem less harsh than Old School even though it is actually harsher. The bands in this genre that I really like are VNV Nation (Hint, buy "Empires" by VNV, its great) and Covenant. Electro-Industrial is essentially the evil twin of New-School EBM. The inspirations are both Old-School EBM and experimental electronic bands such as the legendary Skinny Puppy, as well as lots of goth/darkwave. Generally, the style is harsh and violent but also capable of great beauty like New-School EBM. Percussion can be just heavy or insanely distorted, vocals are usually distorted, synths are dark, processed and (you guessed it) distorted. Ironically, this music can be extremely melodic and emotional. Essentially you have a giant contradiction. Some of the good bands here are Hocico and Suicide Commando.
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