Dance music has been alive with talk of the return of electro in recent months. And while long-time advocates of the scene including DJ Stingray, Dopplereffekt and I-F have seen a surge in bookings, flying the flag for the classic Detroit sound, many others – including Nina Kraviz and Helena Hauff – are finding increasingly widespread success combining techno and electro with the industrial clatter of electronic body music (EBM). Aptly named, EBM is a full-on physical assault of pulsating basslines, syncopated beats, guttural synths, war-like noises and vocals that sit somewhere in the vastly unexplored space between shouting, rap and chanting, all blended with tropes of post-punk, industrial, dark synthpop and more in a melting pot of dystopian music designed to make you sweat. "It's just fucking great dance music, and if you're in a club and the DJ mixes it in with other stuff, you're gonna dance," Helena Hauff smiles. "The return of EBM came earlier than the return of electro. But both genres never really went away. There were always music nerds in the underground keeping it alive, it just seems DJs playing on bigger dancefloors are more confident to mix a range of more challenging influences including EBM, as well as cold wave, darker synthpop, electro and more without losing the crowd."

Hauff often uses EBM in her wide-ranging DJ sets and has also used her Return To Disorder label to put out music by new artists producing the sound. "I feel like the term electronic body music is such a great name anyway because in music, for me, it's all about the energy, and when it comes to club music it's about the body. It's a very physical thing." EARLY MANIFESTOS

The term was first coined by Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk when talking about 'Die Mensch-Maschine' in 1978, to describe the album's more physical sound. However, the EBM movement truly started in the early '80s through artists such as Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb, their first recordings forming early manifestos for the genre. It gained wider recognition throughout the decade, predominantly in Belgium - alongside the new beat scene - and Germany, with seminal bands including A Split-Second, Signal Aout 42, Klinik and DAF raising the popularity of EBM globally. Towards the end of the decade, its raw machine sounds, abrasive rhythms and driving basslines would play a huge part as a precursor for techno, solidified by Jeff Mills' work as one half of Final Cut - whose techno/industrial 1990 release 'Deep Into The Cut' leant heavily on EBM sensibilities - as well as his separate collaborations with members of American band Ministry. But by the early '90s, EBM in its original form had all but disappeared, eclipsed by the acid house revolution, with most of its original torch-bearers either disbanded or moved on to other forms of music - many such as Lassigue Bendthaus and Bigod 20 moving into making techno.

"EBM, early house and techno all have some degree of shared DNA," explains Bon Harris of seminal band Nitzer Ebb. "Each genre takes its own direction, but there are commonalities at source. The original EBM protagonists have had a resonant influence in a lot of genres. The aggression, energy and upfront danceability in the case of Nitzer Ebb are what seem to have captured a lot of imaginations." While the impact of EBM has been clear to see in productions of techno artists such as Thomas P. Heckmann, Terence Fixmer, Adam X, Surgeon, Regis and many others through their careers, a new breed of EBM-influenced artists have been simmering in the underground for some time. Recently, there's been a vast increase in the number of artists, including Schwefelgelb, Silent Servant and Black Merlin, blending the sound with techno. Elsewhere, Identified Patient has worked with vocalist Sophie du Palais on multiple releases to introduce classic snarling vocals to his EBM-infused techno, while acts like the now-defunct TENSE, as well as Sumerian Fleet, High-Functioning Flesh and Klack sound as if they could have been recording in the '80s without sounding remotely pastiche.

"The longer a style sticks around, the more respect it tends to get," Harris continues. "Especially if it holds up in terms of freshness and relevance. Patience is a virtue. If you can weather that intervening decade-and-a-half when you are completely unfashionable, it all comes back around. It is gratifying to feel that emotions and intentions that were important to us in formative years remain important to a new generation." The Nitzer Ebb man is also excited that many of the new artists are taking the sound and tailoring it for modern day clubs. "It feels natural to me for EBM to be more dancefloor oriented," Harris explains. "That's where things started for us. Sure, we were interested in industrial imagery, but funk and soul have always been the heartbeat underneath a darker, harder sound. The funk is essential, it's what makes the music come alive, and gives it humanity - otherwise it's just a load of sequencers banging away." MORPHING SOUND

While Artoffact Records has been repressing classic EBM albums due to the resurgence in interest in the sound, labels including Mannequin, Pinkman, Cititrax, L.I.E.S., Minimal Wave and the now-closed Jealous God have been central to the current boom in new EBM artists blossoming over the last few years. And the sound has started to morph recently, with tracks including IM KELLAR's 'IM KELLAR' and I Hate Models' 'Cyanure Dance' - both featuring high in DJ Mag's top tracks of 2017 year-end list - representing newer EBM sounds.

"Artists have more influences to draw from, an expanded range of tools and possibilities, and the vantage point of updating a classic style for modern times," Harris explains. "Artists like Rhys Fulber add another level of sophistication in the production. That's the advantage of taking a classic genre and using today's [technology], you can take it to another level." Another key figure in this has been Alessandro Adriani, both as label head of Mannequin Records - with which he's released material from TENSE, JASSS, Raw Ambassador and Silent Servant through the imprint's 10-year history - as well as via his productions on EPs including 'Fall Elsewhere And Shatter', 'Tapes' and 'Guerrilla Warfare'. "Techno was originally influenced by EBM, and between 1990 and 2000 producers were aware of what was going on before them in electronic music," Adriani explains. "But somehow over the years nobody spoke about that any more. Now, a lot of people have realised how much [EBM] influenced the last 20 years. I'm happy this happened, because for some time the two different sides have been watching each other. It was weird. If you played techno at a goth party in Berlin six years ago, they would kick you out the booth. I promise you," he laughs. "It happened to me!"