Hardcore Techno is essentially the Darker and Edgier version of Techno. It's generally a genre with a fast tempo and a preference for atonal samples and beats. The genre was inspired by the sinister and slow New Beat that was made in Belgium by Praga Khan and others. It's mostly popular in Western European countries like The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Italy and The UK. It had it's heyday in the mid to late nineties when the more commercial Lighter and Softer Happy Hardcore sound charted like crazy.