Initially a dark synth-pop group, Skinny Puppy took on a more industrial sound following the inclusion of Dwayne Goettel in 1986, and later came to be recognized as pioneers of the electro-industrial genre. Their music has been described as encompassing a range styles including ambient music, avant-funk, noise rock and industrial metal. The music that followed Goettel's death has been likened to genres such as glitch and intelligent dance music. "The Village Voice" described Skinny Puppy's early work as "dark electro-pop", while "Billboard"'s Bill Coleman thought of them as a "moody techno-outfit" with an "aggravating" musical delivery. "People" magazine called Ogre's vocals "incomprehensible", and likened the group's use of sampling to noises heard on "a TV set in an adjoining hotel room". AllMusic referred to Skinny Puppy's music as "primal" and "Kraftwerk gone netherworld", going on to say that unlike the bands that followed in their wake, "Ogre and Key knew how to craft tunes and marry them to the most ingenious of sound patterns". Ogre told the "Windsor Star" in 1986 that "in some sense our music, or the feeling expressed by our music, is felt by a lot more people" than had been anticipated.