Back catalogue: Hard Techno

Review: Valerie Ace solidifies her rising status in techno with her third vinyl EP, 'Givers & Takers', on her Hardwon imprint. The title track sets an ominous tone with a slow breakbeat and interlocking percussion, building tension before a heavy bass climax. 'Eat Dirt' lives up to its name, switching between breaks and straight sections to pound the floor with relentless intensity. 'A Moment Lost' wastes no time, charging out of the gates with rapidly evolving snares and filtered bass punches driving the track over atmospheric background sounds. The afternoon or afterhours vibe of '3PM' is enhanced by seasick synth layers contrasting against malignant drums, creating a sense of uncertainty. Each of the four tracks offers a hard-hitting techno experience, showcasing Valerie Ace's skill in crafting intense workouts. Givers & Takers confirms her premier place in contemporary techno and this EP is a great example to her ability to push boundaries and keep the energy high on the dancefloor.

Review: This new solo outing from Aussie talent Ad Nauseaum has it all - acid, rave, techno, hardcore and more. 'Omega System' sets a pretty brutal tone to get things underway with filtered synths and blazing acid lines searing about the mix over raw, hard, flat drums. 'Alpha System' is even quicker and brings serrated synth madness to video game motifs and slamming kicks. Last of all is 'Always Acid,' a track that was made back in 2004 but doesn't sound in any way out of date. It's another one to blow the roof off any party.

Review: It doesn't seem like the hard techno revolution is going anywhere any time soon. AnD (techno) is a label making sure of that and its sixth missive from the boss is another one to make the eyes water and the heart race. The white knuckle slammer that is 'I Got So Much' kicks off and then 'Screeching' does just that with a terrifying sense of anxiety and menace. 'Your Energy' is all glitchy sounds, squealing textures, hard techno drums and twisted sirens and the final part of this techno equivalent of a Monster energy drink overload is the rip-snorting 'On A Mission.'

Review: OMEN Recordings's next release is a big one that unites Axkan and Duellist on the same slab of wax. They take care of one side each and we're told the inspiration for their sounds was making a "shared response to the turmoil of global conflicts." Duellist kicks off and suggests with his offerings that he is anxious, unsettled and in fight mode because 'Oxidative Stress' is front-foot techno with monstrous bass energy. 'Stains Of Time' is another one with brash drums and perc and plenty of tension, then Axkan offers the hypotonic loops of 'Warfare' and broken beat menace of 'Thermobaric.

Review: Only a hard techno label would be brazen enough to call itself Danger Wank. There is much more worth investigating here though than just the semantics: Fist Of Fury grabs you by the throat with its overdriven percussive loops and flat, slamming drums on 'Minimaythm Demoniae.' It sounds like what happens when you have too many windows open on your computer with sound playing from one that crashes. Al Core brings squealing synths and horrorcore sleaze to '007 Bald Frenchcore' and Celsius tickles the inner war with the abstract sounds and malfunctioning drum patterns of 'L'Appel Du Vide.' Kyo_O's 'Releaser Fucking' gets a brutal LeeloO Hardcoholics remix to close down this serious sonic assault.

Review: Released only a year on from Jacidorex's Unfaced, an acid techno tumbler of big proportions, now comes a new V/A sourced from many a peer in the upstart Belgian artist's orbit. First, we've the collaborative 'Midnight Express', a cleanly tenebrous slink through twinkling, bubbling, upstream synths and hypotense builds, before the hardcore-informed 'Krazchen' by Acidus serves to harrow dancefloors worldwide with evil banana slip synths and cavernous kicks. A melodic turn is marked thereafter on the call-to-dance 'Into The Floor' by Ansbro, while Mahtal 'All In This' continues this trend into hardstyle techno, with its especially clever use of pitched-up and resampled kicks.

Review: AcidLab is back with a fourth dose of medicine and this one comes on translucent red vinyl with various different artists behind the beats. Musikaddikt's 'Acid War' is a straight-up techno banger with oversized hi-hats. Tassid & Eski offer up the best named tack of the year with 'Ok You Cunts' which is raved-up hard techno, Acidrats & Skandal get even more wild and unhinged with their barrage of wind-up melodies and hard-edge and flat-footed beats on 'Massive Murder' and last of all comes Crime with 'Knife Blast which is a big distorted wall of white knuckle rave-techno, not for the faint-hearted.