Arturo Lanz, Gabriel Riaza, and Juan Carlos Sastre formed Esplendor Geométrico in Madrid in 1980 after parting ways with their previous outfit, El Aviador Dro Y Sus Obreros Especializados. They took their name from Italian futurist F.T. Marinetti's heady text, Geometric and Mechanical Splendor and the Numerical Sensibility. Their early releases, Secret Thirteen goes on to note, "reflected the tensions and anxiety of 80s Europe and the rough nature of architectural and technological advancements. It is like a brutalist tower block transcribed in sounds, the aesthetics of machinery."

With the dawn of the nineties, the band slimmed down and began experimenting with different sounds and influences, from Arabic, African, and Chinese music to harsher noise. Later in the decade, noted industrialists such as Coil and Throbbing Gristle's Chris and Cosey reworked Esplendor Geométrico's material for the remix album, EN-CO-D-Esplendor. While the group's remaining members have since dispersed to cities as far flung as Beijing and Rome, they have continued to release records and perform sporadically. Notably, in the mid-2000s, they took the stage in Kyoto, Japan alongside Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle and Coil, DAF's Robert Görl, and CoH.

Esplendor Geométrico's most recent original album, Ultraphoon, came out on Spanish label Geometrik in 2013, although retrospective collections such as 2014's NADOR, which offered remastered versions of tracks recorded between 1988 and '89, continue to see physical and digital releases.