Pendragon Records was a short-lived American industrial and electronic music record label that was founded in 1997 by Irish expatriate Colm O'Connor. The label was based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pendragon released a total of 25 albums from artists based in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Notable bands signed to Pendragon included Haujobb, Gridlock, Velvet Acid Christ, and Xorcist.
Its first release, PEN100, was Haujobb's Homes and Gardens. The label was bought out by Metropolis Records in 1999, [1] shortly after it released Halo_Gen's self-titled album as PEN125. When Metropolis Records bought Pendragon, they continued to sell Pendragon's backstock. Some of the bands that had been signed to Pendragon, such as Haujobb and Imperative Reaction, continued to release music on Metropolis Records. [1] Others, such as Gridlock, switched labels after the acquisition.
Velvet Acid Christ (VAC) is an electro-industrial band based in Denver, Colorado. The band was formed in 1990 by its leader vocalist, musician, and producer Bryan Erickson, and later featured various ex-members of Toxic Coma. The project gained limited popularity in Europe's underground nightclub scenes during the mid-1990s with the compilation Church of Acid (1996) before expanding into other markets in the goth and industrial subcultures. The band's discography includes 14 albums, the latest being Ora Oblivionis (2019).
Steve Fisk is an American, Washington-based audio engineer, record producer and musician. As a musician, he has been in bands such as the instrumental alternative/indie rock band Pell Mell and the electronic band Pigeonhed. He has long been associated with the Pacific Northwest music scenes, including grunge and the Sub Pop indie record label.
Covenant is a Swedish electronic band formed in Helsingborg in 1986. The band is currently composed of Eskil Simonsson and Joakim Montelius in the studio, while live shows consist of Simonsson along with touring members Chad Hauger, Daniel Jonasson of Dupont, Andreas Catjar and Daniel Myer of Haujobb.
Funker Vogt is a German electronic-industrial music project with an aggressive style, formed by vocalist Jens Kästel and programmer Gerrit Thomas in 1995. Other members of the band are keyboardist/manager Björn Böttcher, live guitarist Frank Schweigert and lyricist Kai Schmidt. The name of the band translates from German to English as "Radio Operator Vogt", this being the surname of a friend of the band who was a military radio operator.
Sister Machine Gun is an American industrial rock band originally based in Chicago, Illinois.
Switchblade Symphony was an American gothic rock band from San Francisco, California. Their music combined orchestral sounds with heavy synth sequences and ethereal vocals to create a union of classical music and gothic rock.
Dismantled is an electronic music artist from the United States.
Gridlock was a San Francisco based experimental electronic band, consisting of Mike Wells and Mike Cadoo. Conceived by Wells in 1993, as "heaviness through electronics", the band was initially a part of the electro-industrial scene, but the band's sound eventually began incorporating more atmospheric textured elements, as well as elements of glitch and IDM.
Metropolis Records is a record label founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1993 by the late Dave Heckman. The label's all-electronic format closely tracked with European contemporaries, such as Off Beat, and since 1995 has been instrumental in promoting and distributing underground electronic music in America.
Haujobb is a German electronic musical project whose output has ranged drastically within the electronic music spectrum, from electro-industrial to ambient and techno. They have become a staple crossover act, bringing several forms of electro into the mainstream industrial music world.
Cleaner is the name of a German project specializing in electronic music. Formerly known as Cleen, Myer released several albums on the American industrial music record label, Metropolis Records, as well as the labels Zoth Ommog and Accession Records.
Implode is the tenth full-length studio album by industrial group Front Line Assembly. The album was released through Metropolis on April 27, 1999.
Xorcist is the name of an American musical group whose output has ranged from electro-industrial and ambient.
Decoded Feedback is a Canadian musical project which incorporates styles of electro-industrial and aggrotech. The duo releases music on the North American distributor Metropolis Records, and the European record label Infacted Recordings.
Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound with a more experimental approach. The style was pioneered by Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Numb, and other groups, either from Canada or the Benelux. In the early 1990s, the style spawned the dark electro genre, and in the mid-/late-1990s, the aggrotech offshoot. The fan base for the style is linked to the rivethead subculture.
Dependent Records is a German independent record label that mainly focuses on aggrotech, electro-industrial, and futurepop music. The label was founded in January 1999 after the demise of the Off Beat label by former Off Beat A&R manager Stefan Herwig along with Eskil Simonsson (Covenant), Johan Van Roy, Bryan Erickson, and Ronan Harris.
Numb is a Canadian electro-industrial band that is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
WestCom was a German recording company that operated the label Off Beat, Visage Records and others.
Imperative Reaction is an American electro-industrial band founded in 1996 by Ted Phelps and David Andrecht from the remains of the band Digital Neural Assault.
SMP are an American industrial music group formed in Seattle, Washington. The original incarnation consisted of Jason Bazinet and Sean Ivy before Ivy left to join Christ Analogue in 1998, allowing SMP to function as a solo vehicle for Bazinet's musical output. The project was then put on hiatus in 2008, before being brought back in 2010. SMP continues to issue albums digitally with Hacked Vol. 2 being released in 2016 by Music Ration Entertainment.