Founded in 1985 in Portland by Eric Powell (vocals, keyboards, and sampling), the 16 Volt project immediately aligned itself with the industrial heavy-metal aesthetic championed in the 1990s by Ministry and Nine Inch Nails.

Motorskill (Cyberflesh, 1991) and Wisdom (Cargo, 1993) are still essentially Powell’s personal experiments, into which he pours his knack for manipulating sounds in the studio. From the more danceable tracks (Will, Hand Over End) to the more subdued ones (Filthy Love Of Fire and Downtime), passing through the rugged Head Of Stone, Wisdom, and Motorskill, Powell forges his own version of how electronics and guitars should be fused.

Skin (Cargo, 1994) completes the metamorphosis from solo act to band (Von Vinhasa on rhythms, Jeff Taylor on guitar, and Ned Wahl on bass), bolstered by a much more melodic and flexible sound. Bursts of violence are served in a measured way by insidious tracks such as Perfectly Fake, which rely above all on acrobatic sampling. Rhythm takes over in Uplift, and workshop-like metronomies sabotage the instrumental Bottle Rockets. Noise assemblage dominates Skin Graft and the chaotic finale of Flick. Big guitars run rampant only on Stitched and Built To Last, indirectly delivering a lesson to Jourgensen. The album is varied and intelligent, professional and refined despite its brutality. Only emotion is missing.

Skin, restrained and intellectual, was and remains a transitional work, foreshadowing Let Down Crush (Cargo, 1996), so composed and orderly as to suggest a commercial attempt. Powell actually sings, instead of merely ranting and shouting, and in several places (Swarm, Shameface) converts to a pop format. The album guarantees customer satisfaction by ranging from the brutal heavy metal of A Cloth Like Gauze to the purely electronic dance of Crush. Peaks of danceability are reached with the brutal “aggro” of The Dreams That Rot In Your Heart, Cut Collector, and Two Wires Thin. In the end, the most industrial elements are the loops, whether from drum machines, electric guitar barrages, or Dadaist dissonances.

Powell also directs the Hell3ent project, responsible for 0.01 (Fifth Column, 1996), a cyber-supergroup combining a bit of 16 Volt (Eric Powell), a bit of Chemlab (Jared and Dylan Thomas), a bit of Haloblack (Bryan Black from Minneapolis, already author of Tension Filter in 1994 and Funkyhell in 1996), and a bit of Thrill Kilt Kult and Pigface. The result does not match the original groups, but it is surprising in that, by relegating the guitar to the background, it seems to reconnect with the old industrial music of the Wax Trax school. A threatening bass undercurrent prevails over guitars and keyboards, allowing vocals and samples to float in a psycho-ambient ether (Chromed, Overloaded, Three Murders).

Helium (Re-Constriction, 1998), by the renamed Hellbent (which also gathers the best material from the previous album), is even more entrenched in this psycho-ambient style. Its litanies (especially Chromed) are arranged sparingly and delivered laconically, culminating in the closing Arom, whispered amid a cloud of dissonances and chords that erect a neurotic atmosphere. Even the hard-rock riffs of Blue Monochrome and Burnout must coexist with the same soft arrangement and tiptoe execution. One has to wait for 3 Murders 3 Nights to hear a characteristic techno dance (grim tone, driving beat, and menacing thuds). This refined, drawing-room version of industrial music aims above all to build a song and tell a story, according to the most traditional patterns of American popular music. The Hellbent project is, in short, almost the negation of industrial music. The album’s musical theme is paradoxically summed up in the instrumental 3d, a somewhat random sequence of electronic frequencies. With this album Black became the owner of the Hellbent name, while Powell left his place to John Golden of EMF.

H3llb3nt's Hardcore Vanilla (Invisible, 2001), under the aegis of Pigface's Martin Atkins, adds at least Heliophobic to the main repertory.