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