Hardstyle (hardbass) is a sub-genre of trance music that is closely related to nu style gabber and hard trance. Being a fusion of both Hard Trance and Hardcore Techno (as in gabber), Hardstyle is grouped in the Hard Dance section. Its sound is usually characterized by a four to the floor kick beat and an off-beat gabber style bass line, trance like synth stabs and sweeps and miscellaneous samples. Tracks often feature excessive reverb and/or other effects, breakdowns and occasionally small breakbeat sections. The average tempo is between 140 and 150 bpm, around 30 slower than nu style gabber.
Hardstyle Category is split into several subcategories:
Dutch Hardstyle - Typically harder and darker than other hardstyle, mostly known for its hard off-beat reverse bass line, wicked kicks, dirty vocals and soft synths.
Italian Hardstyle - More serious, usually has a bigger melodic breakdown and typically 'gangsta'-themed lyrics. The synths are much harder than dutch hardstyle.
Nu-Style - Usually a softer bass line then normal hardstyle, mashed out with samples and lower use of reverse bass and/or reverb.The kick is filterd and distorted to create a grungey overdriven bass drive.
