Industrial Evolution/ Various - Industrial Evolution (Various Artists)

At Retroactive Records, we are in love with the 90's industrial-metal of bands like Circle of Dust, Brainchild, Klank, Chatterbox, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails. When we came across the Bumpus Hounds demo, we could hardly contain ourselves. How had this industrial-metal treasure stayed so obscure that none of us had even heard of it? How could music this good have flown completely under our radars for almost 30 years? And, lastly - how could we correct this grave injustice? We found Eric Shirey on Facebook, and found out that there was more than just the infamous Bumpus Hounds - the band went on to produce Primary Censor, Abstain, and Coarse. We scrubbed planet earth and the next six galaxies to find digital and physical copies of the music that ended up on this 2-CD Set called INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION. One band evolved into another band, that evolved into another, etc. The group's next demo, now known as "Orphic," was really never officially titled. It was recorded at Music Lab, where ex-drummer of SKREW Mark Dufour was an engineer. Dufour took the controls and drums and extra programming were provided by Jim Vollentine, who was the keyboardist for SKREW. What was crafted this time around was a much more even and dynamic blend of metal guitars and the pulsing electro sounds of darkwave and cyberpunk outfits of the time.Why is this collection of songs from this certain group of artists entitled "Industrial Evolution?" Well, Eric looks at the project as a journey from an angry youth ranting about social and mental issues to an older and wiser young adult who was not only using music as a way to vent, but hopefully to provide answers to someone's problems. Looking back after 20+ years, the music still stands on it's own and will no doubt thrill fans of industrial and metal both old and new. Most of the material is still relevant next to what is being released today by artists like Klank, Circle of Dust, Ministry, and the likes.All this to say that hopefully Industrial Evolution will finally make it into the hands of those who always wanted copies of The Bumpus Hounds, Primary Censor, Coarse, or Abstain's music. Sonically, it was all taken off of cassettes which, many times, were over 20 years old and found in the collection of friends who had it stashed away somewhere. None of the members (except Neil Thompson and Chris Spoonts) even had copies of the masters. Hopefully, you can hear through all the aging defects and enjoy the experience.