There are few electronic artists to emerge from the mid-eighties unscathed, even on the underground circuit – by then synthesiser pop had drowned itself in a flourish of egotistical pursuits and selfish excesses – the technology just sat in the corner weeping and waiting.

Nitzer Ebb on the other hand was a rare commodity – formed by two 16-year-olds, Bon Harris and Douglas McCarthy (later joined by David Gooday and drummer Julian Beeston), not only did the group evolve a brave new sound, but they bridged the gap between the emerging sounds of industrial music and synthesiser pop, heavily influencing Depeche Mode for one, and later, Nine Inch Nails, Richie Hawtin, DJ Hell and Smashing Pumpkins amongst many others.

However, Nitzer Ebb remained on the periphery of even the exploding industrial scene, although they seemed to be embraced by virtually everyone in the clubs by the time their debut album, That Total Age, had surfaced in 1987.

Body Of Work charts Nitzer Ebb’s rise from their 1984 debut to their 1997 sign off, and listening back now their music has lost none of its energy and vitality. The Nitzer Ebb style was very much one of mesmerising mechanical sequences and hard beats, mixed with addictive, anthemic vocal chants – perfect for the dancefloor, even more so as an alternative to the vile synthpop dance tat that was plaguing Europe.

Their uncompromising style is most evident on their earliest work, such as Murderous, Let Your Body Learn, and the brilliant Join In The Chant. All these tracks still sound fresh and relevant, mainly because of Nitzer Ebb's knack for writing simplistic electronic arrangements and the fact that they really knew how to cherry-pick those throbbing bass line and synth sounds.

While the band became slowly more sophisticated, they continued to deliver classics cuts such as Shame and Lightning Man, embracing the use of brass stabs and more urbane production methods – the totally absorbing Fun To Be Had ensured that Nitzer’s seamless evolution never evaded the purposefulness of their original ideologies.

On Family Man, the transition from semi-industrial pop anarchists to alternative hard rock dieties was fully realised; yet just as listenable as ever. The track Come Alive, pre-dated Depeche Mode’s Violator by two years, but although produced by Mode’s Alan Wilder, the influence Nitzer had on them is pretty much inescapable – indeed I was there in Ladbroke Grove’s Subterrannea watching the Basildon Boys watch Nitzer playing live in ernest.

The 19-track retrospective closes with the track I Thought, a darkly balladic rock-pop track that is truly hypnotising. Oozing with class and songwriting maturity, how could they leave it at this? They did and they’ve been badly missed – Nitzer Ebb would have taken today’s technology and wrapped it around their songwriting, far from the way in which so many of their contemporaries have lazily abused it.

For power-fans there’s also a bonus CD with 13 rarities and remixes. Highlights include a brilliant remix of Join In The Chant and two William Orbit remixes, Captivate and Backlash.