Dawn of Ashes Brings Dark Electro Terror Back to the West Coast

There aren’t many figures in industrial music who’ve managed to stay relevant across two decades while the genre keeps fracturing into smaller subgenres. Kristof Bathory is one of them. As the driving force behind Dawn of Ashes since 2000, he’s spent years moving between aggrotech, blackened metal, and industrial hybrids, but the upcoming In The Acts of Destruction tour signals something different: a deliberate return to the Terror EBM sound that first put the band on people’s radar.

The nine-date West Coast run kicks off January 24 at Bar Sinister in Los Angeles and wraps February 6 in Las Vegas, hitting DNA Lounge in San Francisco, Portland’s Star Theater, Seattle’s El Corazon, and venues across Salt Lake City, Denver, Dallas, and Mesa along the way. What makes this tour notable isn’t just the routing. It’s that Dawn of Ashes is stripping back to a dark electro set, the kind of performance that defined their early work before the metal elements took over. For fans who remember The Crypt Injection era, it’s a chance to see the band operate in the space where they originally made their name.

Bathory’s tenure with Dawn of Ashes has been anything but static. The project started as horror-industrial with aggressive production and film samples, shifted into melodic black metal territory during the Metal Blade Records years, and eventually landed on what he calls “blackened industrial,” a fusion that pulls from all those influences. The band’s recent output, including Infecting the Scars and its remix companion Reinfecting the Scars, both released in 2025 through Metropolis Records, leans into that hybrid approach. But this tour isn’t about the new material. It’s about going back to the roots, to the dark electro foundation that existed before the guitars showed up.

Live, Dawn of Ashes has always leaned into theatricality. With Bathory commanding the stage, the performance remains a visceral experience, its visual component deliberate and built around horror imagery—an aesthetic the band describes as “catastrophic symphony.” The Judas Breed fanbase knows what to expect: intensity, atmosphere, and a set that treats the stage like a horror film playing out in real time. On this tour, that energy gets channeled back through the aggrotech lens, which means sharper beats, harsher electronics, and the kind of relentless pacing that defined their earlier records.

Supporting the tour are Antania and Social Abyss, both acts pushing their own versions of industrial brutality. Antania operates in what they call “doom bass” territory, a California underground project that ditches guitars entirely in favor of electronic production that hits with the weight of metal. Kali Mortem handles vocals while Dr Luna builds the low-end assault using hardware, no samples, just sound design and pressure. Their live shows are endurance tests, all physical intensity and dark visuals synced to the music. It’s not a traditional band setup, but it works as a counterbalance to Dawn of Ashes’ more established terror-industrial approach.

VIP bundles for the tour are available through dawnofashesofficial.bandcamp.com, offering meet and greets and exclusive merch. General admission tickets can be grabbed through individual venue sites or major platforms depending on the city.

What’s compelling about this tour isn’t just that it’s happening. It’s that Bathory is making a choice to revisit the sound that started everything, even as the band’s catalog has grown more varied. After 25 years of evolution, lineup changes, and genre shifts, Dawn of Ashes is circling back to where it began. That’s not nostalgia. It’s a statement.