A Confronting Observation – Is Hardstyle losing its signature ‘epicness?’

This is NOT a Raw vs. Euphoric debate!

So, now that I’ve grabbed your attention, what exactly is this article about then? Well, to put it plainly: the scene is changing and so is the music.

The driving factor for these changes is us – the people.  “We don’t like pitched kicks!” Was followed by: “There are too many screeches… We want melodies!” And, of course, onto the most recent one: “Yes, or no Psy Trance, please!”

We demand a lot from our artists and organisations, however, in this article I’ll be focusing on one specific point.

Before I tell you what it is though, I need to ask you something, so bear with me.

What makes an epic melody more superior than a terrifying screech? Or vice versa.

What I’m trying to say is, isn’t it about the emotion that the sound conveys? In my honest opinion, music needs to tell a story. When an artist creates a track and plays it on the dance-floor, I want to be submerged in their world. To see what they see, to hear what they hear and to feel what they feel…

Now, we’re getting to the crux. Is Hardstyle losing its epicness? This is a humble observation from my side. Is Hardstyle focusing too much on the “scream-along-as-the-volume-goes-down-before-the-drop” aspect of the music?

Of course! I understand how awesome it is to scream your lungs to a specific hit. I have experienced what it does to the crowd and thus, how provides visitors with a certain feeling of unity. However, if I here “F*ck this” in one song, and the next one, “F*ck that,” and another one, “Motherf*cker,” it kind of loses its magic to me (not necessarily because it’s swearing, but you get the point, right?).

Remember Showtek’s hit-track “Black”? Now that was an epic song! How it transports you to an alternate dimension – the drums, signifying the coming of something threatening. It’s like heading into a tunnel that leads into pure darkness; the thought of this literally gives me shivers! Ah… A true masterpiece.

Another example that I would like to point out is Noisecontrollers – “Samara.” We have all heard this track before and each and every one of you can vouch that the atmosphere in this number makes you feel as though you’ve emerged straight into a horror movie. Every time this track is played, I still get the creeps – but in a good way, of course. A feeling of appending doom, like something bad is about to happen. If you ask me, “Samara” would have been the perfect Qlimax anthem during that time.

A more recent piece of art is Regain & Typhoon’s (now known as Kataklism) track “Ultimate Victory.” Where were you when it was premiered at Hard Bass 2016? “Can you feel your death?” What an amazing vocal, what an amazing kick, and what a chilling atmosphere.

Don’t get me wrong, a track doesn’t have to be epic and dark to be a high-quality song. However, I would feel rather gloomy if producers would stop working on these kinds of productions because it’s not “poppy” enough and/or because people can’t yell along to it. Artists that, in my opinion, are doing a great job in telling a tale through their productions are: Artifact, Mrotek, Crypsis, High Voltage, Digital Mindz, MYST and of course, the master of atmospheric-raw, B-Front.

I bet there are numerous other artists out there that I forgot to mention, so please forgive me. The main point that I want to make though, is that it doesn’t matter to me if a track has a melody or a screech, as long as the atmosphere is just right.

* Disclaimer – all photographs used in this article retain credit to Rossumedia.