Die Krupps

Few German bands have moved between sounds as restlessly as Die Krupps, who took shape in Düsseldorf in 1980 when Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Bernward Malaka began building songs from factory clatter and metallic percussion. Their name points to the Krupp industrial dynasty, and the band cited Luchino Visconti's 1969 film The Damned as a key touchstone. Their work sits at the crossroads of industrial metal and EBM, and their habit of fusing electronic and metal elements has been credited with inspiring other bands.

Their debut, Stahlwerksynfonie, appeared in 1981, and Volle Kraft voraus! followed in 1982 with a more synthesiser-led approach. Entering the Arena (1985) brought their first English-language material. A 1989 collaboration with Nitzer Ebb, a new version of the early track Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn retitled Machineries of Joy, charted well and led to the band's reactivation. The 1992 album I and a Metallica covers EP marked a move toward guitars, followed by II – The Final Option and III – Odyssey of the Mind. After Paradise Now in 1997 the band split, and a 2005 reunion preceded later releases including The Machinists of Joy (2013), Vision 2020 Vision (2019) and V – Metal Machine Music (2015).