Hardcore is not one sound. It is a family that kept splitting, every time someone thought the last version was too slow, too clean or too popular. Tempos below are the usual range, not a law: every producer breaks them.
Early hardcore · around 160 to 190 BPM
The original Rotterdam and Dutch sound of the early 90s. A distorted 909 kick, hoover synths, samples from films and rap records, short tracks built to make a hall explode. Raw on purpose. This is what gabber meant at the beginning.
Happy hardcore · around 160 to 180 BPM
The bright side of the 90s. Piano riffs, major keys, sped up vocals, pure euphoria. It grew in the UK out of breakbeat hardcore, and in the Netherlands Paul Elstak's Luv U More made it a chart sound.
Industrial hardcore · slower and darker
Mechanical, metallic, cold. Kicks that sound like machines in a factory, often at lower tempos than the rest of the family. For people who think hardcore should feel heavy, not fast.
Millennium hardcore and nu style · around 160 to 170 BPM
Around the turn of the millennium the Dutch sound slowed down, the kicks got deeper and longer and the tracks got darker and more produced. It was the bridge between the 90s and the modern main stage.
Mainstream hardcore · around 160 to 190 BPM
The festival sound from the 2000s on: huge tuned kicks, screeches, vocals, drops built for tens of thousands of people. Artists like Angerfist made it the main stage of the scene.
Frenchcore · around 190 to 220 BPM
Rooted in the French free party and tekno scene: rolling kick and bass patterns that never stop, melodies, violins, a dancefloor that moves like a wave. In the 2010s artists like Dr. Peacock and Sefa took it to the biggest Dutch stages.
Uptempo · around 200 to 250 BPM
The fast, raw answer of the 2010s: hard, distorted kicks, short and aggressive tracks, little melody. Born in the Netherlands, made for people who think mainstream got soft.
Terror and speedcore · beyond 200 BPM
The extreme end. Terror pushes the tempo and the distortion past what most people can dance to, and speedcore goes far beyond that. Less a style than a dare.
Crossbreed
Drum and bass breaks under hardcore kicks. Two scenes that were never supposed to meet, and did.
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