Dark Electro was a musical movement of the 1990s, developed in central Europe. The term describes the sinister sounds of electronic music groups such as yelworC, Mortal Constraint, Arcana Obscura, Placebo Effect, Trial or Tri-state, and was first used in december 1992 in connection to the album announcement of "Brainstorming", the debut album of yelworC.[1] In february 1993, the term has been mentioned in a review to the same album.

The music style was mainly inspired by electronic/post-industrial acts such as The Klinik and Skinny Puppy. The compositions were mostly complex arranged and blended with horror soundscapes, and grunts or distorted vocals. A notable artist was YelworC, a music group from Munich, formed in 1988. They laid the foundations of the Dark Electro movement in the early 1990s and represented the first artist on the well-known German label Celtic Circle Productions.

In following years, Dark Electro was displaced by techno-influenced styles such as aggrotech and futurepop, who often mis-label themselves as "Dark Electro".