Le darkcore est caractérisé par des morceaux de breakbeats[5] de 150 à 160 BPM mêlés à des lignes de basses à très basse fréquence. Le genre fait également usage d'échantillons sonores extraits notamment de bandes sons de films d'horreur[6] ou d'appels au secours. À mesure que le style évolue, l'usage d'éléments de films d'horreur s'estompe lorsque les producteurs se lancent dans l'usage d'effets simples d'échos, de pitch shifting et de time stretching afin de créer une atmosphère chaotique et sinistre[7].
↑(en) Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Soft Skull Press, , Just as the commercial success of hardcore in 1992 had prompted the first wave of 'darkside' tunes, so the hipster vogue for 'intelligent' inspired a defensive, back-to-the-underground initiative on the part of the original junglists..
↑ ab et c(en) « Darkcore », sur Ishkur's electronic music guide (consulté le ).
↑(en) Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Soft Skull Press, , By late 1992, the happy rave tunes of 1990—1 were being eclipsed by a style called 'darkside' or dark-core;.
↑(en) Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Soft Skull Press, , Dark-core is composed entirely on continuously on looped breakbeats;.
↑(en) Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Soft Skull Press, , Using effects like time-stretching, pitch-shifting and reversing, the darkside producers gave their breakbeats a brittle, metallic sound, like scuttling claws; they layered beats to form a dense mesh of convoluted, convulsive poly rhythm, inducing a febrile feel of in-the-pocket funk and out-of-body.
↑(en) Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Soft Skull Press, , The other important source for techstep was the first era of 'darkside', as pioneered by Reinforced artists like Doc Scott and 4Hero..