"Underground" indeed! In 1996 American hard house and Chicago style techno was deep into the 2nd year of proliferating the Scene as a reaction to mainstream appeal rave and European trance. With "Spirit of the Underground", Germany's K-Tel-like monstrosity ZYX manages to capture a rising movement still basically in its infancy. What's offered here is a well-mixed smorgasbord of obscure, but forward-facing sub-genres of future techno, acid, hard house, proto-tech house, dark techno, progressive hard trance, minimal deep house, etc., that all works well to produce a rhythmic, pounding, driving atmosphere appealing to techno heads craving a taste of that which is unique, distinctive, and out of the ordinary.Standouts include WOODY McBRIDE, RND TECHNOLOGIES, DAN EBEN, AMPHASIS, etc., with the bulk of the tracks from #3 through to #10 achieving the rise to the climactic peak during the middle of the disc. Also of note is the inclusion of rarities by JOHN ACQUAVIVA as CAPPIO BROS. (with P.Mintsoulis & G.Zwarich), DJ SNEAK & J.WERNER as 3 FS to bring the exhausting proceedings to another euphoric climax to leave you wanting more!A worthwhile acquisition that still holds up surprisingly well in 2018! Unfortunately, no other volumes followed, so for this one and only anthology: seek and ye shall be rewarded with THE SPIRIT OF THE UNDERGROUND!