Pantheon of Absurdity: A look at the most twisted and deranged sub-genres of Techno and Dance music

When people hear words like Techno, House, or "Electronic" Dance Music (a term I detest), most people likely have the following images in mind.

Rich, fashionable young women and men "dancing" in Ibiza, London, or New York night clubs, their expensive clothes still spotless, one margarita in one hand... maybe still holding a successful business contract from earlier today in the other hand.

I.e. spiffy, elated, harmless "fun" for the middle-to-upper class and otherwise jaded personnel.

But behold! Since the inception of "Techno" and "Acid House", there was also an underbelly to the whole techno-house thing... and that pit in the underground goes way deep, deep and dark.

There are also completely violent types of Techno music. And those parties were not held in €1000 night clubs, but squats or evicted buildings, and the people on the dancefloor were ex-punks, skinheads, squatters, metal kids... or legit lunatics. As in: escapees from the mental asylum (I'm not making this up - I met them at the parties. Some even became friends to me).

Of course all of this is stuff you would only rarely, rarely read about in the glossy techno and dance mags for the "upper class twits of the year".

But let's cut all the words now. And look at some of these subgenres.

Here is a list. With features we wrote about some of these sub-styles so far.

Industrial Black Metal / Blackened Speedcore
Psycore (600+ BPM Psytrance)
Acidcore
Screaming Hardcore
Noisecore
Extreme Metal x Speedcore
Early Rotterdam
90s Japanese Hardcore
Ultra-Speedcore
Breakcore

Corrosive for your mind - The most deranged cases of Acidcore Techno
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/11/corrosive-for-your-mind-most-deranged.html

The world beyond 300 BPM: The fastest Techno tracks of the 90s and the origins of Ultra-Speedcore
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-world-beyond-300-bpm-fastest-techno.html

Psycore: Discovering the dark, deranged, and disturbing side of the Psytrance spectrum
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/11/psycore-discovering-dark-deranged-and.html

The Zenith of Brutality - When Black Metal meets Extreme Techno
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-zenith-of-brutality-when-black.html

Scream it out: Hardcore Techno with vocalists
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/03/scream-it-out-hardcore-techno-with.html

(A few of the) Roughest Early Breakcore Tracks
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/11/a-few-of-roughest-early-breakcore-tracks.html

The Hardest Days of Rotterdam Style Gabber
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-hardest-days-of-rotterdam-style.html

Inferno Unleashed: When Extreme Techno meets Extreme Metal
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/04/inferno-unleashed-when-extreme-techno.html

Japan's 90s Hardcore Techno scene was wild
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/09/japans-90s-hardcore-techno-scene-was.html

Noisecore Techno: A look at one of the most abrasive genres in all the world of music
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2024/08/noisecore-techno-look-at-one-of-most.html

Bonus Feature:

Voices of the Hardcore - Strange Vocal Manipulation in Extreme Techno Genres
https://thehardcoreoverdogs.blogspot.com/2025/03/voices-of-hardcore-strange-vocal.html

11 Facts you did not know about "Wonderful Days" (Video Feature)

11 facts that you did not know about the ultimate Techno Rave banger of the 90s - "Wonderful Days"

Transcript:

"Wonderful Days" by Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo helped to bring Techno and Rave music to the mainstream in the 90s.

1. It was actually based on a 1970s Dutch rock song called "help, get me some help"
2. before charly & theo, other artists already covered it
3. including some electronic versions, too (like this east european cover from 1984)
4. charly & theo started as hardcore techno and gabber house producers (music video to live at london)
5. really *hardcore* producers
6. rumor is that mental theo was involved in compiling the early thunderdome cds (sorcerer - summer)
7. apart from the netherlands the duo was especially famous in germany (like in this german TV feature about Charly & Theo in 1997)
8. even after the hit they stayed hard to the core (hardcore feelings)
9. and not just in words (your smile - hardcore remix)
10. they still perform live
11. and "wonderful days" has been covered and remixed many times since then (such as this drum and xylophone cover)

The Techno History of Samples: Part 1 - "We Wanna Be Free"

Hello Dogs,

In our mission to research the history of electronic underground culture - especially centered on techno, rave, hardcore... we set ourselves a new objective:

To shine a light on the context of its popular, re-occurring, "meme" like vocal samples.

Why did these occur in the first place?

Music that existed around the 1st heyday of Techno - late 80s, early 90s - was not as sample heavy, most of the time. Like glam metal, pop-rock, the first boybands...

Vitamin - My House is your House 

Well, the reason is that most of the productions were made by low-budget, low-brow (and sometimes low-life) producers.

The other "dance" epigons of those times were able to hire professional singers, or whole orchestras to layer over their dance grooves (hello S.A.W.!)

Just sampling something else was a much cheaper method.

There were other, more high-brow reasons, too:

Techno dismantled the way music was supposed to be, to sound, to be produced.

No more real guitars and "real" percussion. To exchange the human voices made of flesh that dominated recent decades - from the Beatles to Madonna - with the digital croaking of the sampler, made perfect sense.

And sampling was a new tech, could be used in ways that are out there, psychedelic, zany. The right soundtrack for the jilted generation.

Let's stop right here. And get to our first exhibit.

"We wanna be free"

One of the earliest samples in one of the earliest "rave" hits. Later it has literally been used in 1000s of other tracks.

I assume only a minority of the sweat and smoke-drenched ravers were aware of the actual origin of the samples.

It's from a 1960s movie called "the wild angels".

So let's talk about it:

The Wild Angels (1966) - On Hippieploitation, Peter Fonda, and an iconic movie of 90s Rave Culture (that most Ravers never actually watched)

The movie stars a still very young peter fonda - a few years before his role in "easy rider". Other actors to note are Nancy Sinatra and Bruce Dern.

The movie is on the fringes of the "hippieploitation" movie fad of the 60s and 70s.

These movies were often marketed as exposing the horrors, s*x, and violence (and music) of the 60s counterculture to the boomers and squares of the precedent generation.

Of course, these horrors to the most part only existed in the imagination of the boomers.

They often ended up attracting the very counterculture generation they warned about. The hippie youth was interested to see some wild exploits of bikers, hippies (i.e. themselves), revolutionaries and drop-outs too, of course.

And I guess most directors and studios knew this.

And, despite this pulp / schlock framing, some, or rather, most of the hippieploitation movies are quite well-made, deep, and sincere work of arts. They just had a smaller budget than the "big hollywood" productions.

#1 Primal Scream - Loaded (Official Video) 

Peter Fonda seems to have been a central star of this movie-wave; apart from the wild angels he also starred in other movies with a similar concept, like "The Trip", or the abovementioned easy rider.

I said this one is borderline hippieploitation, as the topic is not directly hippies, but real rough outlaw bikers.

The outlaw biker culture is somewhat lumped into the 60s "counterculture" media perception lens. Bikers play prominent roles in other iconic counterculture flicks as well, like fritz the cat or - "Easy Rider" again.

The bikers serve as a channel for a lot of "hippie" vibes in this media creation. Like the concept of "free love", living outside society, job or work culture. And there is quite a lot of talk by Fonda and his friends about sticking it to "the man" and otherwise dodging and fighting boomer-based authority figures.

It's not totally lovey-dovey all the time. They are a brutal and violent gang despite this. And the plot contains a "redemption" arc for the Fonda character, leaving the nihilism and mindless violence behind.

Hardsequencer - We Wanna Be Free 

Before this happens, the movie actually ends on a real downer, with a scene that even I, as a life-long horror and "outrageous" movie consumer, find very hard to stomach or to watch.

I guess the hippieploitation / exploitation concept shines through here. The idea to "shock" the audience.

I won't say too much on it, but the sequence involves trespassing, booze, an *rgy, a priest, swastikas, and a coffin.

This "final segment" (that slams the lid on the coffin, so to say) is preceded by a speech of the Fonda character, that became a countercultural symbol in itself.

The priest asks the unruly bikers "But, tell me, just what is it that you want to do?".

To which our young Fonda replies:

"We don't want nobody telling us what to do. We don't want nobody pushing us around.

We wanna be free! We wanna be free to do what we wanna do. We wanna be free to ride! We wanna be free to ride our machines without being hassled by The Man. And we wanna get loaded. And we wanna have a good time. And that's what we're gonna do. We are gonna have a good time. We are gonna have a party."

Defcon 2 - To Be Free

And I guess this is good evidence that the movie really is not "just" about a criminal gang on motorcycles.

Like I said, they serve as a vessel for countercultural values, within the narrative and metaphor of the movie.

And the following generations seconded that motion.

The speech became iconic and was used, re-purposed in a myriad of media, which is impossible to count or keep track of.

Most importantly it found its home in the techno, rave, acid house, hardcore and gabba scenes of the mid-80s to mid-90s.

An early example is the Primal Scream track "Loaded" (the title should give a hint, right?"

But it kept being re-used, re-purposed.

Tempest 2000: Future Tense 

I suppose one could trace a kind of countercultural continuum there.

The values of the early hardcore ravers and acid house punters were not that far away from those of the 60s (free love, free substances... having a party).

So they felt "understood" by this 60s movie, even though it belonged to the earlier generations.

But plotting such a continuum would bust the scope and scale of this feature.

Maybe at another time, in another place, in another world.

The Gabber Elders Website Big Launch

Hello,
If you followed projects like:
The bi-yearly Hardcore Techno Mixmarathon Festival
HCBXCast
Mainstream Pollution
Doomcore Records Pod Cast
Mechanical Clown
and a zillion more projects

Then you probably ran into The Gabber Elders already.
Who are The Gabber Elders?
Well, can't you read properly? They are these old-*ss sorcerers and wizards who protect the Hardcore underground, true Elders of the tribe... no, just kidding.

The Gabber Elders are four veteran DJs, producers, movers and shakers from the Hardcore and Techno scene.
GabberGirl from Minnesota, Low Entropy from Hamburg (Germany), DJ Asylum from Bathgate UK (yes that's really the name of a town, and not a political scandal) and Nikaj from The Netherlands.
Altogether they are 999+ years old (no, not really).

And we wrote this very long text to let you know that The Gabber Elders website just had its big lunch. Oops, I mean, big launch! (Grandpa / Grandma style humor... sorry (not sorry))

It's run by GabberGirl herself.
And there you can you read more about each specific Elder.
And most importantly, you will be informed about upcoming projects.

But you must speak louder, young person, because them Elders don't hear so well anymore! In tarnation!

https://thegabberelders.com/

A look at overlooked hardcore-adjacent releases of the 1990s

Hello,
That's what we do. Or rather, our main focus.
Listing, reviewing, showcasing Hardcore releases (and similar genres) that created major (or minor) waves of shock when they saw the light of day in the 90s.
But might be overlooked or forgotten now.

Note: No AI was used in writing this text.

So let's get it on!

Tanith - T2 EP (BASH 04)

Tanith was once claimed to be the "hardest DJ on earth", for a short period in time... when the Berlin Underground was still ruled by zany Hardcore Techno.
This record is a showcase of this. In all the "early" Gabber, Hard Techno, whatever kind of music world... this is one of the most dystopian, the most anti-human, the most teeth-flashing around...
As if it was really done by a Terminator and not a human being.
Pioneer work from the ground up. I'd say what "Iron Man" was to Heavy Metal (the song, not the movie character, you fools), "T2" is for Hardcore and Gabber.

Lenny Dee - Untitled (ETC 131)

Just "Lenny Dee" in white lettering on the cover - a nice touch.
Each track is a 5/5 here, and each in its own way.
There is "Baby" and "Microdot", and these are really sweet acid-trance-techno things... with a NYC feel, imho, cuz their Techno always felt more isolated, cold, technological than on mainland Europe.
And there are "Hammerhead" and "Bug Spray". Hammerhead might own the claim of being one of the earliest tracks with a real brutal "Gabber" type of kick. And both tracks are gnawing, gnashing, caustic, industrial, infernal Hardcore masterpieces!

Cyberchrist - Information : Revolution (Praxis 16)

imho cyberchrist always was one of "the speed freak"'s most interesting projects.
and this 12" is outstanding, too.
yeah, there are some killer terror-gabba tracks at the start of each side. highly recommended.
but then... the second tracks.

there is a completely arhythmic hardcore/industrial track on side A. loud, and very minimalistic / futuristic at the same time.
imagine Schwarzenegger, in his role as the terminator, turning into a b-boy, then firing the gun in every direction, and then doing the same while breaking into a funky dance.

now side b... an ambient composition... with heavy use of frequency-modulation synthesis (martin damm was always quite good at that).
like a nightmare while your sub sinks down, down to 20.000 leagues under the sea.
then you wake up from the nightmare. and are still trapped in this sub.

https://praxisrecords.bandcamp.com/album/information-revolution-praxis-16

I Borg - The Borg Collective E.P. (Battle Trax 02)

A quite singular release, really.
Supposedly based on the beat of an earlier tune by Cybernet System and Dynamix II.
I'd describe the sound as "Hardcore Techno" meets "Electro" - even though "Detroit Techno" purists might disagree here.

All tracks actually sound quite "similar" - there is the abovementioned beat, there are star trek / borg related samples, even a similar bass-bleep...
But it's still a great release, and a true hidden gem in my opinion... futuristic, cold, very hardcore... what more could one ask for!

https://battletrax.bandcamp.com/album/i-borg-the-borg-collective-ep

Society Of Unknowns - Society Of Unknowns (Praxis 24)

collab between christoph fringeli and jason skeet. (and aphasic)
this is one of the earlier breakcore releases... and you can feel that the style was without a "solid framework" yet.
"transversal" is quite close to traditional jungle... while others use distorted, "hardcore" type drums.

i love this one because there is an interesting source of sounds aka samples... musique concrete, contemporary avantgarde from the past... this is more like an intellectual, auteur mode of breakcore...
not some rave/drug fueled low blow stuff.

and the main, sweet, wonderful piece for me is "dead by dawn" - the endless mix.

it's neither breakcore, nor hardcore, or in any genre really. one of a kind.
...like a sound collage, washing over you, voices and despair in the echoes... something reminiscent to steel works or a bell... and lower bass frequencies, too, yeah.

looping on and on. listen to it and maybe you will feel the same way.

https://praxisrecords.bandcamp.com/album/society-of-unknowns-praxis-24



Fast Identities vs. Aversity - Colored Fraud Vol. 1

I guess the reason you have come here is the final track - B3.
And yes, this one's worth going all the way.
Super-dreamy choirs are singing for the first few seconds. Then Acid-Techno-Hardcore madness reigns, down on us.
Other-wordly!

The other tracks are worth a bite or two, too, though!
Acid and Core in full effect. And, as the name suggests, a lot of the tracks are way faster then the other Acidcore output by Mr. Lasse Steen.

Astrid Gnosis talks about growing up in Valencia, her affection for Hardcore Techno beats, and the connection to her latest release "Rat Penat"

We recently reviewed Astrid Gnosis' release Rat Penat in our e-zine. Now Gnosis herself chimes in, to give us a "deep dive" into her mystery works.

1. The release references Spain and Valencia. Can you tell us how the track is connected to this region?
Is it related to the party, rave scene? Are there other connections, too?

Rat Penat means bat in Valencian. Part legend, part fact, I’ve always been drawn to the idea that the bat was originally something foreign, tied to conquest and outsiders, and later absorbed into the city’s identity as its symbol. It’s also a nocturnal animal, often linked to omens, which feels fitting for Valencia and its long relationship with nightlife, but also with what exists beneath the surface.

I grew up in Valencia, but I’ve now lived abroad for almost as long as I lived there. The track plays with that tension of belonging without fully fitting in, of being present but misunderstood. That mirrors my own relationship with the city. I was always a bit “other,” partly because I have Colombian blood, so that feeling didn’t start when I moved away. Living abroad just made it clearer.

In the lyrics, I also reference a line from the Himno de Valencia, “un tapís de murta,” which in the anthem presents Valencia as beautiful, liberated, and idealised. I twist that image by adding “y una rosa que marchita,” a dying rose. That line carries a personal reference to my mother, but it is also there to introduce a darker layer and a sense of fragility beneath the celebration.

What really pushed me to write the track was La DANA. When I returned to Valencia to help after the catastrophe last year, I witnessed an immense amount of pain and loss. It was heartbreaking, but also strangely familiar. Valencia is often seen as vibrant and thriving, but that vitality has always existed alongside something tragic and unresolved. The song is my way of acknowledging that underbelly, the grief, the exhaustion, and the things that never make it into the postcard version of the city.

In the end, I identify with the bat. Nocturnal, slightly on the margins, always there, even when unseen. Rat Penat uses Valencia’s own symbols to talk about a kind of belonging that is not clean or romantic, but real, layered, and marked by loss as much as by beauty.

2. It's a very Hardcore, Gabba release. You obviously feel at home in these genres. What sparked your interest in this type of music? After all, these are genres that are still sometimes "detested" by many other musicians.

As a teenager I was drawn to Hardcore and Gabber because they don’t ask for approval. That energy resonated with me straight away. There’s something very honest about music that goes directly for the body and the nervous system.

Growing up in Valencia, the Mascletà was also my first encounter with truly loud sound. My father took me to my first one when I was just a year old. That physical, overwhelming impact stayed with me and definitely shaped how I experience music. Hardcore and Gabber leave space for intensity, anger, euphoria, and vulnerability to exist at the same time without being filtered or prettified. For me, it’s deeply emotional music, even if that isnt always obvious.

3. It's quite visible that there is a vast number of influences in the track - Hardcore, dance, dark synths. Is that something you focus on now: going beyond "genre" rules, mixing things up?

I’ve never been that interested in strict genre rules. When I began developing my own sound in the studio, I called it nugabber. It was my way of blending references that shapes my music taste, a mix of hardcore punk, gabber, trance, techno, pop, all of it.

For me, genres are more like reference points than boundaries. Its instinctive rather than deliberate. I’m more focused on building a world that feels coherent on its own terms. If the track feels intense, alive, and intentional, then it’s doing what it needs to do.

Original Review:

Astrid Gnosis - Rat Penat (Self - Released)

The name "Rat Penat" apparently is tied to the history and mythology of Spain / Valencia.
And it's a fitting match, as that area is also known for it's legendary Rave / Party scene.
The "Rat Penat" logo itself reminds me a bit of the "Rave the Party" series of compilation CDs in the 90s.
Despite these optics, the audio is connected too. Rave vibes, Gabba madness. But it does not stop here. There is a kind of dark wave organ throughout the track, which gives it an eery early goth vibe... (remember the "Batcave" club, anyone?).
And Spanish language lyrics, sung by Gnosis herself... adds a mystical / sensual dimension to the track, too.

So, in case you did not get the "message" yet: this is a track that zig zags through genres, eras, maybe even dimensions...
And it's gonna kick your ass on the dancefloor.

https://astridgnosis.bandcamp.com/track/rat-penat
https://open.spotify.com/track/6A8YnWiUIy5IV2NyMEK0e2
https://www.deezer.com/us/album/872749662
https://www.beatport.com/release/rat-penat/5691893

Note: No AI was used in writing this review.

Review: Astrid Gnosis - Rat Penat (Self-Released)

New single release by Astrid Gnosis!

The name "Rat Penat" apparently is tied to the history and mythology of Spain / Valencia.

And it's a fitting match, as that area is also known for it's legendary Rave / Party scene.

The "Rat Penat" logo itself reminds me a bit of the "Rave the Party" series of compilation CDs in the 90s.

Despite these optics, the audio is connected too. Rave vibes, Gabba madness. But it does not stop here. There is a kind of dark wave organ throughout the track, which gives it an eery early goth vibe... (remember the "Batcave" club, anyone?).

And Spanish language lyrics, sung by Gnosis herself... adds a mystical / sensual dimension to the track, too.

So, in case you did not get the "message" yet: this is a track that zig zags through genres, eras, maybe even dimensions...

And it's gonna kick your ass on the dancefloor.

https://astridgnosis.bandcamp.com/track/rat-penat

https://open.spotify.com/track/6A8YnWiUIy5IV2NyMEK0e2

https://www.deezer.com/us/album/872749662

https://www.beatport.com/release/rat-penat/5691893

Note: No AI was used in writing this review.

Review: Vilde Tuv - Truthbomb (self-released)

I don't know much about this artist, but it seems that Vilde Tuv has been making music for quite some time already, with success and glamour here and there (she is based in Norway).
And it's a shame I haven't heard of Vilde Tuv earlier, as this is one of the best releases I heard this year!
How to describe it? Well, it's hard to describe (and I'd invite the listeners to take a listen themselves).
It's not in one genre, Vilde Tuv instead combines dozens (or thousands) of different genres in these songs / tracks.
But unlike other "multi-genre" albums, it's not like there are a few tracks in this or that style... but all songs combine multiple approaches and styles as one! I am sure this literal "mixture" is hard to pull off, but she did it.

So some songs are more introspective / "world music"-like with traditional Norwegian folk elements... a few are quite catchy rocky-pop chansons... yet there is also speedcore, slowcore, techno, ambient... yes it's quite bold.

A flute is also featured in a lot of these songs, which is a rare instrumentation for electronic / techno-related music. Which I think is another big plus.

Listening suggestion: "How I'm here"

Review: Cera Khin – Demons To Some Angels To Others (Lazy Tapes 06)

Cera Khin is a Tunisian artist that new resides in Berlin, and probably a few other places.
She is one of the newer techno djs and artists that started to dig into the "antique" sounds of 90s hardcore, gabba and doomcore once more.

and this release would make the "veteran" artists of the 90s scene bow down in awe.
it nails the ancient darkness and disturbia of doomcore techno. at the same time it feels fresh and wholly new, not like a re-hash of discarded tropes of past decades.
especially the beats are noteworthy here, as they pack a massive punch.

if you want to set fire to the dancefloor, in a more direct, twisted, dark way than usual, buy this release!

https://lazytapes.bandcamp.com/album/demons-to-some-angels-to-others-lzytps06

Review: Technohead - Acid Head [Mokum Records 332]

Some artists mellow as they got older, but no no, not the Technohead! (And have you ever been... mellow?)

His hardcore actually pre-dates the proper advent of Techno (and Hardcore) and this one is food for the party animals and ravers as well.

The title is "Acid Head" and, yeah, that's the theme, but it's more like... totally zany, crazy gabba-mayhem.

Just like in the 90s! Weird / strange sounds, lunatic vocals... the bass that goes boom!

But it's even more distored now, and the sampled voices scream louder then before.

And finally, a drop of acid can be found in all of these tracks, too!

https://mokumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mok332-technohead-acid-head

A big label called "Bonzai" and the very Belgian roots of Hardcore, Techno, and Trance

Hello,
I'm a self-proclaimed "music journalist" and more often than not, I find myself returning to a certain topic: the early days of Techno and Hardcore, or rather, the time *before* these days.
The period when all of these genres were still in creation, and the final form of Techno (and Hardcore) was yet to be seen.

In those days, there literally were a myriad of influences that poured into the maelstrom that gave birth to "Techno" as we know it.
Some of the more "out-there" claims I heard was that "glam rock" shaped Techno ("because it had a 4/4 and shuffle beats already") or that video game music was involved (likely true).

Jones & Stephenson - The First Rebirth (Original Mix) 

But most generally, the dispute is whether the USA (detroit / nyc club scene), europe (new-beat / ebm), or the UK and Ibiza (acid house / rave) are the inventors of Techno. "Who has the one, true ring"... excuse me, I mean, who is the one true inventor of Techno and its subgenres.

The truth is likely much more complex, and it really was the result of... a myriad of influences, as mentioned above.

With hardcore-gabba, there is a similar division, amongst those who are "investigators" of its history.
Some claim it was a Dutch invention (with "Rotterdam Records" etc), or one out of Germany (with Marc Acardipane and his label Planet Core Productions - which went into business 2 years before "Rotterdam" did).

Cortex Thrill - Innerspace

But again, we need to agree that it came down to - a thousand of different influences, from all the wide world.

And because of this, I want to talk about Bonzai Records.

Bonzai was neither from Germany nor The Netherlands (nor Detroit or London), but is a label out of Belgium.

And it virtually represents all this that I mentioned above. Techno, Acid, Gabba, its creation or history, Dance Music, traces of detroit / new-beat...
The label is sitting right there, in between all these things and states.
And it was a huge influence on 100s of other DJs and producers. And it is not a bold claim to assume that the label played a very important rule in the evolution of these styles - in the creation of these styles!

Cherrymoon Trax - The House Of House [Live At Tomorrowland]

2.

Those who are into early dance and techno music, and know the 90s; or those that even were around in the 90s and are "rave veterans" now might utter a slight "gasp!" at this claim.
Because, yes, Bonzai is mostly known for its "trance" music, releases, compilations. and is seen as a trance label, belonging to the "history of trance" music.
And that is quite true, and they deserve this place.

But at the same it's true that they had a lot of releases in other genres. Techno tracks, gabba bangers, hardcore classics, acid house all the way. even some outer space ambient stuff. oh and did i mention house and more progressive genres?

For example, they likely were the first label to massively use "hardcore kicks" on its releases. These were bass drums from a tr-909 drum machine that got "overdriven beyond recognition" by various methods (in some cases, just by pushing the volume levels on a mixer into the reddest of reds).
and bonzai was a true pioneer here.

maybe some later "gabber heros" first heard these kicks on a bonzai release, and repurposed this technique for themselves?

D.J. Bountyhunter - Come On (1992)

when i inquired about the "history of hardcore" among some gabberheads i know, real veterans from the "early days", some of them said that gabber evolved out of techno tracks "with the belgian hoovers" ('hoovers' are a type of rave-synth sound), that just went harder and harder, and then we have arrived at proper hardcore techno.

bonzai was not the only belgian label involved in this rapid development. but they were one of the labels involved in it.

3.

apart from the hardcore-gabba-fiends, bonzai played a huge role as a player in the trance and hardtrance world. a lot of the classics that are still played at retro-rave nights were from this label.
and they still get regular, modern "updates" of these tunes.

i'd also like to add that bonzai gave rise to a kind of "anthemic" rave sound. their trance tracks did not sound so much like the more club focused music. the kind of trance that was done around the same time, in germany for example.
when i listen to these (bonzai) tracks, i get the feeling they were created with "rave arenas" in mind; huge cavernous halls, filled with thousands of zany raver kids, shaking their bones to the thunder of the drums.
these producers sure knew how to put the "reverberation" fx units to good use!

Overwhelming Rain (Jones & Stephenson Mix) (Played at Mayday Rave 1994)

let's skip their contribution to the world of house, acid, and others for now. because i would need to write a book then, not just this meagre text!

4.

so, was bonzai dominantly a trance label? or a hardcore one? or both? bipolar?

Well, i would argue that the answer is - even "more complex".
the tracks are somehow "in between" these genres, they have undefined sounds.
even on one vinyl release you sometimes find one "gabba-smasher" on one side, and the flipside has calm ambient-trance.

the label really defined this "primal" state where genres are still fluid. nothing is set in stone yet. everything is possible.

No Man's Land - Termination ZX (Hardtrance 1993)

5.

It's weird that Belgium - a quite "small" country (no offense to the belgians!) played such an important role in the history of techno (and hardcore).
And it's weird that a label called bonzai did it. A bonzai is the smallest of trees after all.
But they did.
And I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles, folks!

Yves Deruyter - Calling Earth (Official Video)

Hardcore and Gabber around the world - Looking back at the 90s (Part 1)

Hardcore Techno started somewhen in the 80s and 90s. Then it quickly became a worldwide phenomenon.
The media focus is usually on the scene in the Netherlands. Maybe because that scene produced the most media material compared to the others (clips, music videos, tv interviews, live rave footage, videos...).
Yet in other countries, millions attended Gabber and Hardcore parties, too. For example, 2 of the most notorious Hardcore-Only clubs in the 90s were actually in Germany (The "Bunker" in Berlin, and "The Box" in Hamburg). And let's not forget the underground parties in London (hello, "Dead by Dawn")... or Paris... my oh my!
Yet in other nations the scene might have been smaller and more underground... but still deeply dedicated!

But I don't want to compare different "nations" or who had the best scene or clubs or whatever...

Instead, I want to point out that Hardcore and Gabber was, and is a community, a scene, a state of mind... beyond borders, worldwide, and it connects Gabbers and Hardcore-Heads around the world, too!

And as a little "documentation", here are some tracks in Hardcore (or Hardcore-adjacent genres...) from a number of very different places. Released in the 90s (or early 2000s).

1. Belgium

Jones & Stephenson - The First Rebirth

2. Denmark

Skullblower - Hidden Dark Steel

3. Sweden

X-Core - Bult

4. Australia

Nasenbluten - Concrete Compressor

5. USA

Delta 9 - Hard Core Chicago (Remix)

6. Mexico

Deep Bass 909 - the terrordrome

 

7. Switzerland

DJ Obsession - Bern city hardcore

8. Austria

Ilsa Gold - 4 Blond Nuns

9. France

Auto-Psy - Neutron

10. Poland

8 Ohms - Polprzewodnik

11. Germany

E-de Cologne - Dance Now!

12. Peru

Insumisión - La frustración lo cubre todo

13. Brasil

Retrigger - Wriiiiech

Review: DJ Narotic & Nevermind – United States Of Terror (Industrial Strength Records) (2011 / 2025)

Industrial Strength Records was exactly there, right at the beginning of Hardcore Techno. Or maybe they were even there *before* the advent of Hardcore, and helped to shape, create, and nurture it.
And they are still around and kicking it. Which, I guess, makes it the longest running Hardcore label in (music) history.

Personally, some of the recent outings were more or less "outside my radar"; because I don't dwell much in the "contemporary gabber" scenes anymore. From what I heard, they were definitely part of the upper cream in recent Techno and Hardcore genres, though!

So it's nice (for me) to see this one pop up on online. Seems like a re-release of a previous digital release, but that one was in 2011, so it's part of the new phase of Industrial Strength and the Hardcore scene.

Still the roots to the earliest, 90s Speedcore and "Terror" scenes are definitely there.
The tracks play well on the New York Hardcore theme.
"New York Hardcore" is a term that might refer to new york based hardcore punk, new york based hardcore techno, or to new york city in general, because, from what i heard, the people and subcultures there are way more hardcore than in europe...

Thus the tracks feel like a fusion of hardcore punk/metal and techno of the hardest core variety.
And they execute this fusion much better than most artists, who rather give the impression that they loaded guitar riffs from their parents vinyl collection into a sampler, and then think they may be "hardcore".

But, yes, this release definitely is!

https://industrialstrengthrecords.bandcamp.com/album/united-states-of-terror