Over the years, Dawn of Ashes has had several opportunities to rise from the ashes and reinvent itself, like a phenix reborn: in its twenty-year history, Kristof Bathory’s aggrotech band has ventured into extreme metal before returning to industrial metal. The expression “rising from the ashes,” however, works only as a play on words, as Dawn of Ashes never truly disappeared. Yet recently, the theme of rebirth seems more relevant for Bathory: after a trilogy of albums dealing with scars (and thus, potentially, healing?), the artist left California to settle in Denmark. There, he immersed himself once again in the aggrotech sound that defined his band’s early days with Infecting the Scars. Less than a year later, Anatomy of Suffering continues the experience in the same vein: bloody, of course, and synthetic.
Trends are cyclical, and with age comes nostalgia. Fortunately, Dawn of Ashes’ aggrotech remains steeped in gritty dark electro and offers something far more violent, sinister, and theatrical than the distorted Eurodance-style sound to which the genre has sometimes been reduced. On the previous album, the horrific and desperate atmospheres were polished and cinematic, thanks in particular to the indispensable yet effective use of samples. This is once again the case here. However, starting with Throat Woven With Thorns, aggression blends with the melancholic layers as Bathory spews out his lyrics and the tempo accelerates.
The approach here is perhaps more direct than on Infecting the Scars, as if Dawn of Ashes wanted to get straight to the point, to cut to the chase. The tracks are catchy and in-your-face. The ingredients are familiar but masterfully handled by an artist who has explored other musical horizons and draws on a wide range of experience, from death metal to dark ambient. When it comes to hitting hard, he knows how to do it. He knows how to haunt us, too, as evidenced by the instrumental Echoes of Desolation—perfect for drifting into a black hole while waiting for your end—or the introspective closer Autolysis, an echo of the dark ambient side project Void Stasis, in which Bathory participates.
In the meantime, you’ll be dancing. Anatomy of Suffering is full of energy: Viral Decay is a potential anthem for fans of Hocico and Suicide Commando, while Beneath Thy Tongue, It Sleeps, with its frenzied pace, is sure to cause a stir. And since nostalgia for dark dancefloors filled with fluorescent synth dreadlocks in a real thing, rejoice: the guest appearances are pretty stellar! Unter Null’s comeback is a delight as Erica Dunham brings her bitter and poignant nuances to Autopsy of A Spirit, while the boss himself, a.k.a. Suicide Commando contributes to the nightmarish heaviness of Penumbra. Pretty cool lineup.
Anatomy of Suffering is further proof, a year after Infecting the Scars, that Dawn of Ashes’ return to aggrotech is not only a matter of nostalgia. While the genre’s conventions are strictly adhered to, over the past two decades Kristof Bathory has had time to refine his mastery of sonic torment, furious and cathartic dance, and electronic dissection. In this music lies a craftsmanship born of healed wounds, of diverse experiments, but perhaps also, precisely, of the ashes of projects reduced to nothing by fire to finally be rebuild and reborn. In the violence of its shattering choruses, in the coldness of its synths, Dawn of Ashes—probably against its will—exudes a form of grace and beauty: it beats you up, and it does it well.
