News / hardstyle
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1 min read
D - Charged - RE:WIND
Read more . . . →A RE:WIND in hardstyle is either completely unnecessary or it reveals something the original version buried — this one is the latter. Whatever was happening in the original version of Charged, D’s rework pulls the main energy to the front and strips back enough of the surrounding material that the kick pattern gets room to actually breathe. Dirty Workz has been consistent in the hardstyle space for years and this fits their catalogue without being a carbon copy of everything else on the label. The energy curve on this is good — it doesn’t peak too early, which is a...
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Defqon.1 is 22 days out and everything else looks soft
Read more . . . →The Gathering kicks off June 20th. Three weeks out and Defqon.1 is already making every other summer lineup on the calendar look like a Coldplay concert. Hardstyle in a field in the Netherlands, multiple stages worth of it, crowd that made a deliberate choice to be there. If you’ve been sleeping on this: here’s the lineup doing the talking. 1. D-Sturb ft. E-Life - Sacred Oath D-Sturb got handed the 2026 anthem and made something that actually deserves the title. “Sacred Oath” builds properly, drops hard, doesn’t overstay — and the theme this year is right in the name. This...
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The Purge & Coldax & Hans Glock - SIDEQUEST (Tetris Mix)
Read more . . . →A hardstyle track called “SIDEQUEST (Tetris Mix).” The only thing missing is a boss fight. Dirty Workz going full gamer and I’m here for it. Buy / stream this track → More like this Ran-D & Act of Rage - Drugs (Crypsis Remix) Solstice & Michael Jo - Don't Say Goodbye The Straikerz & TOZA - STOP CRYING
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1 min read
Thyron - echoes of time
Read more . . . →Lower case title, which is either an aesthetic choice or a statement, and either way it fits a track that’s a bit more restrained than your typical Scantraxx release. Thyron has a specific style where the hardstyle elements are all present but the whole thing has a more atmospheric texture than you’d expect from the label. echoes of time leans into that — the name is doing some work here, there’s a sense of the track pulling you through different phases in a way that isn’t just “build, drop, build, drop.” The melodic line running through the verses is genuinely...
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SCHIAVONI - BIG BOY
Read more . . . →SCHIAVONI delivers BIG BOY on Scantraxx and the energy is exactly what that title suggests it would be. There’s no irony here, no restraint — this is hardstyle doing what hardstyle does when it’s not trying to be anything other than itself. The track identifies its target (your sternum) and doesn’t miss. The kick compression on this is the kind that you feel before you hear it properly, which is either a sign of excellent production or a speaker-destroying mistake, and here it’s definitely the former. Scantraxx putting out a batch this strong is having a moment right now. SCHIAVONI...
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1 min read
Mutilator - BOUNCE
Read more . . . →The artist name is Mutilator and the track is called BOUNCE and it is released on Dirty Workz, which tells you everything you need to know about what’s coming before you press play. Hardstyle gets dismissed a lot by people who have never stood in a crowd of twenty thousand people while something exactly like this is playing at 150 BPM over a speaker system the size of a small house. The reverse bass here is properly nasty and the kick drums hit with the kind of physical force that the genre exists for. Mutilator builds well — there’s a...
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1 min read
The Purge & Coldax & Hans Glock - SIDEQUEST (Tetris Mix)
Read more . . . →A hardstyle track called “SIDEQUEST (Tetris Mix).” The only thing missing is a boss fight. Dirty Workz going full gamer and I’m here for it. More like this D - Charged - RE:WIND Flux Overload - Violence Horyzon - Sky Blue Buy / stream this track →
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Dr Rude ft. Eelco - Big In Japan (Hardstyle Edit)
Read more . . . →Dr Rude doing a hardstyle version of “Big In Japan.” Alphaville wrote it in 1984, hardstyle found it four decades later, and it kind of works. Dirty Workz doing Dirty Workz things. Buy / stream this track → More like this Adaro & Dr Rude - Oldschool Lovers Heavy Resistance - Cowboys Mish - DETONATE
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Sub Sonik & EZG - Casa Diablo
Read more . . . →Dirty Workz hardstyle that lives up to the name. Sub Sonik’s been in this game long enough to make it look effortless, which is somehow the most annoying thing about him. Buy / stream this track → More like this EZG - Undercover (The Purge & Gezellige Uptempo Remix) (Official Hardstyleclip) Sub Sonik - 99 PROBLEMS (But My Kick Ain't One) Force & Chain Reaction - Don't Move
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Justė, Jaxstyle, Jon - Turn The Lights Off (Paul Elstak Remix)
Read more . . . →Paul Elstak. PAUL ELSTAK. The gabber legend threw himself at a Spinnin track and I’m completely here for it. Chaotic in the best way. Buy / stream this track → More like this Da Tweekaz & Komb - Night Of Fire Sub Sonik - 99 PROBLEMS (But My Kick Ain't One) Armand Van Helden, Raphi, George Reid - This Ain't Love
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