Unpopular opinions

[battlejellyfish]

I'm glad for the comeback of gated kicks in general and mostly feel the euphoric tracks are turning into something better to me when they're used... at least for the mid-intros. The rest is very often just dull as hell and kills the vibe halfway through the track. DBSTF is a good example to me. Yeah, I mean, I can always tell the same, people on the dancefloor will go crazy even for that but meh :/

[Ferren]

My unpopular opinion is that I miss trance and early hardstyle elements (like acid) in todays hardstyle. So I started to focus way more on producing that myself. Few releases already out now. Not a lot of attention, not a lot of reach / streams etc. But I will continue nevertheless. It's not about scoring hits but to produce what I love.

I would love to see a new (hate myself for saying this) subgenre in Hardstyle that is more focused on it's roots.

One of my favorite labels from back in the day was StraightON Black (Thilo & Evanti, Future Tribes etc).
That was an awesome sound, sadly it never took off completetly.

Hardstyle back in the day was experimenting more soundwise. Just like I said with the Tech sound and then we had the Jumpstyle era that most labels released with during 2005-2006 (also never became a hit).

But aye, I miss the more Techno / Trance orientated sound of Hardstyle and especially longer tracks then 3min.

[ThePrincipal]

Straight on Black is the best label ever. no debates!

We need more 146-150 dark simple techy hardstyle again!

[NICK9656]

Simple, dark and hard Hardstyle which is more Techno oriented? Oh yeah, we definitely need this!

[ceero]

Straight on Black is the best label ever. no debates!

We need more 146-150 dark simple techy hardstyle again!

x1000
Along with Fools Forest / Therabyte. I'm so sad this kind of complex & dark kind of harddance died out

[Ferren]

Straight on Black is the best label ever. no debates!

We need more 146-150 dark simple techy hardstyle again!

x1000
Along with Fools Forest / Therabyte. I'm so sad this kind of complex & dark kind of harddance died out

Still "dark" hard trance out there, Hyper Reality is going quite strong nad Dark by Design is still releasing some stuff. Iäm sure there's others as well.

[ThePrincipal]

Dark by Design did a decent new release on Infexious not long ago!

But yes the dark stuff was just the best. I get so happy listening to it. If some of these extra raw tracks were made at 150 and the kicks were able to breathe, could have a similar sound now , but noooooooooooooo they want to be made at 160 and played at 165

[Gommes_]

Yeah I also realized that I want this (old) style back when listening to Barbarilla by Herculez on Dope. Scantraxx decided to upload thir old tracks and this one is so great, cause it just has one specific screech which loops endlessly. I wish today's artists would do something similar.It just gives you this basement/club atmosphere.

[The Blaster]

Yeah I also realized that I want this (old) style back when listening to Barbarilla by Herculez on Dope

Definitely! Much prefer 'da techniq' though

And agree with the others, would love to see Straighton Black revived. Or a label of similar quality releasing similar stuff nowadays.

[Reverse Ghost]

This is still one of my most sought after records just for how different this mix is from every other Hardstyle track from the time. May as well be a Hard Techno release


Unfortunately this style and the StraightOn Black style will likely never return, as most of the Hardstyle crowd now is obsessed with hard drops for their Instagram stories.
Back on topic I honestly blame this on Q-Dance for switching their parties from actual parties to "experiences" where instead of being focused on making a crowd move they focus on making the most cinematic shows they possibly can. Style over substance. Look at videos of Qlimax or even Defqon there are so many people just standing around or holding their phones up to record instead of dancing. Who can blame then, when every Hardstyle track now only ever has a beat for two or three measures before going into another two minute buildup followed by the same drop again for 7 seconds? Reaktor is doing it right, adding some complex light arrays to their shows but not so much that it detracts from the experience of being at an actual fucking party and not an epic Disney Marvel PS4 Exclusive Cinematic Experience. I've always had more fun at Techno and Reggae parties instead of Hardstyle parties only because Hardstyle is so difficult to enjoy live anymore.