Is Trance Making a Comeback?

By NaJade · DJ in Bangkok · Published September 29, 2026

This guide is part of EDM genres explained.

Yes — but not in the form people expect. Trance itself never actually went away, and the genuine revival is happening through adjacent genres rather than a straight return: melodic techno runs on trance’s core mechanic of build-and-release, and progressive house inherited its melodic DNA directly. The original artists are still working, and one of them thinks the modern version is missing the point.

That’s the honest answer. The longer version is more interesting, because “is trance back” is really two questions wearing one coat: is the 1990s sound returning, and is trance’s underlying idea dominant again. The answers are different. Here’s what’s actually happening, including a pointed critique from the genre’s most recognisable figure.

The revival isn’t a return, it’s an inheritance. Melodic techno, currently dominating festivals worldwide, runs on exactly the structural principle trance invented — sustained tension resolved in a euphoric release. Progressive house was explicitly born from house rhythms blended with trance’s atmospheric qualities. Trance didn’t come back because, structurally, it never left.

The Case That It Never Left

Start with the simplest evidence. Paul van Dyk’s VONYC Sessions radio show reached its 1000th episode in January 2026. That’s not the milestone of a dormant genre — that’s a continuously running institution. Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond and Ferry Corsten have all worked without interruption through the period trance was supposedly dead, and Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy shows have remained a genuine event.

What actually happened is narrower than “trance died.” Trance lost its position at the commercial centre of dance music around the time big room and then tech house took over festival programming. The audience, the artists and the release schedule continued. It stopped being fashionable, which is a different thing from stopping.

Where the Real Revival Is Happening

Genre	What it took from trance	What it changed
Melodic techno	Build-and-release structure; emotional melody	Darker palette; techno percussion; 120–128 BPM
Progressive house	Melodic development; patient builds	Slower; continuous accumulation over peaks
Festival mainstage EDM	The build and the drop	Compressed the arc into 90 seconds
Hard dance / hardstyle	Euphoric melody at high tempo	Heavier kick; more aggressive

The melodic techno point deserves emphasis because it’s the clearest. That genre currently dominates large-scale events worldwide, and its defining characteristic — working in tension-and-release cycles toward dramatic breakdowns and defined peaks — is trance’s structural signature transplanted onto a techno chassis. Change the drum palette, drop the tempo by fifteen BPM, make the mood darker, and a great many “melodic techno” records would have been called trance in 1999.

Progressive house is even more direct: it emerged when producers like Paul Oakenfold blended house dancefloor rhythms with the atmospheric qualities of trance and techno, and was originally described as house influenced by trance. My own genre exists because of this one. See what is progressive house.

The Critique From Inside

Here’s the part that complicates a simple revival narrative. In a 2025 conversation recorded at the Berlin Synth Museum, Paul van Dyk reflected on the current state of trance and argued that its modern DJs are missing the mark — a notable position from someone whose 1994 track “For an Angel” is arguably the genre’s most famous record.

You don’t have to agree to find the argument useful. The charge, broadly, is that what returns in a revival is usually the surface — the supersaw lead, the big breakdown, the recognisable signifiers — rather than the thing those elements were originally in service of. Trance’s structure existed to build a genuinely sustained emotional state over eight or nine minutes. A three-minute festival edit with a trance-shaped breakdown reproduces the sound without the mechanism.

What to Actually Listen To

The original canon, as sets rather than singles. Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, BT, Armin van Buuren. The shape across two hours is the point.
Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy — the clearest living line from classic trance to a contemporary audience.
Melodic techno, if you want the current version. Tale of Us, Anyma, ARTBAT, Stephan Bodzin — see what is melodic techno.
Progressive house for the gentler inheritance — Martin Garrix, Matisse & Sadko, DubVision.
Tech trance, if you want trance that kept its tempo rather than slowing down to meet the market.
Gareth Emery’s Laserface — for the argument that trance’s live production remains unmatched.

A Note From NaJade

My honest read, as someone playing a genre that descends directly from this one: the revival is real and it’s mostly happening under other names, and I don’t think that’s a bad outcome. Genres are ideas more than sounds, and trance’s idea — that dance music can be sincerely, unembarrassedly emotional and can take its time getting there — is currently in better health than it’s been in fifteen years. It’s just wearing a darker jacket and calling itself melodic techno. Where I’d take van Dyk’s criticism seriously is on duration. The thing that made trance work wasn’t the supersaw, it was the willingness to make a room wait eight minutes. Almost nothing in the current revival does that, and a build compressed into ninety seconds is a different experience regardless of what sounds you put in it. If you want to know whether trance is back, don’t listen for the melodies. Listen for the patience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is trance making a comeback?

Yes, though not as a straight return to the 1990s sound. Trance never actually stopped — Paul van Dyk’s VONYC Sessions reached its 1000th episode in January 2026, and artists like Armin van Buuren and Above & Beyond worked continuously through the years trance was supposedly dead. The genuine revival is happening through adjacent genres: melodic techno uses trance’s build-and-release structure, and progressive house inherited its melodic DNA directly.

Did trance ever actually die?

No. What happened was narrower — trance lost its position at the commercial centre of dance music around the time big room and then tech house took over festival programming. The audience, the artists and the release schedules continued throughout. It stopped being fashionable, which is a very different thing from stopping. Several of the genre’s defining figures have never had a meaningful gap in output.

Is melodic techno just trance with a different name?

Not identical, but the relationship is closer than the labels suggest. Melodic techno’s defining characteristic — working in tension-and-release cycles toward dramatic breakdowns and clearly defined peaks — is trance’s structural signature transplanted onto a techno chassis. The differences are a darker palette, techno’s more minimal percussion, and a lower tempo of 120–128 BPM against trance’s 135–150. Many melodic techno records would have been called trance in 1999.

What do original trance artists think of the revival?

Views differ, but not everyone is enthusiastic. In a 2025 conversation recorded at the Berlin Synth Museum, Paul van Dyk — whose “For an Angel” is arguably the genre’s most famous record — reflected on the current state of trance and argued that modern DJs are missing the mark. The broad criticism is that revivals tend to reproduce the surface signifiers rather than the underlying mechanism that made them work.

What should I listen to if I want modern trance?

Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy shows are the clearest living line from classic trance to a contemporary audience. Tech trance is where the genre kept its original tempo rather than slowing to meet the market. For the current adjacent version, melodic techno from Tale of Us, Anyma, ARTBAT and Stephan Bodzin carries the same structural idea. And listen to full sets rather than singles — the shape across two hours is the point.

Why did trance lose popularity in the first place?

Fashion and format, more than quality. Big room EDM and later tech house took over festival and club programming through the 2010s, and both are structurally better suited to shorter attention spans and shorter sets than trance is. Trance’s core mechanic depends on sustained builds over long tracks, which works poorly in a 45-minute festival slot or a three-minute streaming context. The genre didn’t get worse; the format around it changed.

About the Author

NaJade is a Bangkok-based DJ playing progressive house, melodic EDM, pop, and Thai music across clubs, rooftops, and weddings in Thailand. He teaches beatmatching and mixing to beginners both in person in Bangkok and online over Zoom. When he’s not behind the decks, he’s documenting the journey on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

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