Hellsinki Industrial Festival 2025: A Global Gathering for the Darkwave and Industrial Scenes

The Hellsinki Industrial Festival is scheduled to take place in Helsinki, Finland, from Thursday, November 6, to Saturday, November 8, 2025. This multi-day event focuses on dark electronic music genres and will be held across two separate venues. The proceedings will begin with a pre-club event at the On the Rocks club (OTR) on the evening of November 6. The main festival activities will then proceed on Friday, November 7, and Saturday, November 8, at Tiivistämö, a larger venue located within the Suvilahti cultural complex. The festival is organized for an audience aged 18 and over.

The format of the event involves performances by musical acts spread across multiple stages over the three days. The initial night at On the Rocks will feature a selection of artists in a more contained club environment. The subsequent two days at Tiivistämö will utilize a multi-stage setup to accommodate the larger roster of artists.

The lineup consists of artists from various European countries, as well as the United States of America and Australia. The musical programming presents a range of styles within the industrial and dark electronic spectrum, such as EBM, darkwave, industrial metal, and synthpop. This provides a detailed look at the current state of these specific music scenes.

Hellsinki Industrial Festival

The Hellsinki Industrial Festival was established in 2018, creating an annual event in Finland dedicated to industrial and adjacent dark electronic music genres. The initial editions were held at Nosturi, a well-regarded Helsinki venue whose industrial character was suited to the event. From its beginning, the festival’s organizers presented multi-day lineups that combined prominent international acts with Finnish artists, a structure that has been maintained throughout its existence.

Following the closure and demolition of the Nosturi venue, the festival demonstrated its resilience by relocating. For several years, its primary location was Ääniwalli, another industrial-style complex in Helsinki, which allowed the event to continue and grow. The festival has consistently been organized by Elektrik Products, often in collaboration with the DJ collective Club Infektio, which curates after-hours music for attendees.

Over the years, the festival has solidified its position as Finland’s largest and most consistent platform for its specific musical niche. It has become a regular destination for a European audience and has hosted notable artists from the EBM, industrial, and synthpop scenes. The move to the Tiivistämö venue for the 2025 edition continues its history of adapting to the city’s changing venue landscape while maintaining its core programming principles.

Lineup Information

Clan of Xymox, from the Netherlands, is a pioneering group whose work was foundational to the darkwave and gothic rock genres. Formed in the early 1980s and famously signed to the influential 4AD label for their initial, defining albums, the band has explored a range of electronic and rock-based sounds throughout their long career. With founder Ronny Moorings as the consistent creative force, Clan of Xymox has maintained a significant presence in the gothic scene for decades and is considered one of its most important acts. The band remains active, having released a deluxe edition of their album ‘Exodus’ in April 2025. Their performance at the festival is part of an extensive international tour supporting this new material.

From the United States, Dawn of Ashes brings a sound that has undergone a significant stylistic evolution. Originally emerging from the terror EBM and aggrotech scenes, the project, led by Kristof Bathory, shifted into a more extreme metal-oriented direction, incorporating elements of industrial and melodic black metal. However, with their June 2025 album, ‘Infecting the Scars,’ the band has revisited its origins, delivering a sound that returns to their aggrotech roots while incorporating a modern production style. The project continues to use horror-based lyrical and visual themes to create an intense and confrontational experience.

From the United Kingdom, Massive Ego brings a sound rooted in darkwave and electronic pop, while Empathy Test offers a modern synthpop approach with strong melodic and emotional components. The Australian act Shiv-R, composed of Pete Crane and Lee Bulig, is known for a hard-hitting industrial sound that blends haunting melodies with aggressive, club-oriented rhythms. Germany’s Phosgore contributes a style of harsh, pounding industrial noise.

Hailing from Italy, Psycholies contributes a powerful and aggressive take on industrial techno. Since their formation, the band has developed a sound characterized by relentless beats, distorted textures, and an intense, confrontational energy. Their live performances are known for being high-octane, visual experiences that capture the raw and chaotic spirit of their music. Their inclusion adds a dose of hard-edged, danceable industrial to the festival’s diverse European lineup.

The lineup also features a strong contingent from across the continent. This includes the Estonian aggrotech and industrial metal band Freakangel; Italy’s Motel Transylvania; System Noire and Antibody from Germany; and the Czech group Plague Called Humanity. The United Kingdom is further represented by Junkie Cut and the industrial metal band Kuro. Finnish artists are also present, including the dark electronic project Miseria Ultima, cinematic synthwave artist Levinsky, and the industrial group Cardinal Noire.

The Venues

On the Rocks

Located at Mikonkatu 15, On the Rocks is an established music club in the center of Helsinki. Known for its regular schedule of live performances across various rock and alternative genres, its basement setting provides a classic, intimate club atmosphere. For the Hellsinki Industrial Festival, it will host the pre-club event on Thursday evening, offering attendees a focused and close-up experience with the opening night’s artists before the main event begins.

Tiivistämö

The main festival events on Friday and Saturday will take place at Tiivistämö, which is situated at Kaasutehtaankatu 1 within the Suvilahti cultural complex. Suvilahti is a significant post-industrial area, a former power plant and gasworks that has been repurposed into a hub for cultural activities, artists, and events. Tiivistämö itself occupies part of this complex, retaining a raw, industrial character that is well-suited to the festival’s aesthetic. Its capacity for multiple stages and its location within this broader cultural environment make it an appropriate setting for the larger scale of the main festival days.

The Finnish Scene and Organizers

While the Hellsinki Industrial Festival features a predominantly international lineup, it also serves as a platform for Finland’s own dark electronic music scene. The inclusion of Finnish artists such as the cinematic synthwave project Levinsky, the dark electronic sounds of Miseria Ultima, and the aggressive industrial of Cardinal Noire grounds the event in its local context. These acts represent a segment of the Finnish music community that operates within these specific niche genres.

The festival is put on by Elektrik Products, a key organizing body in the Finnish scene, which has consistently worked to bring international industrial and metal acts to the country. Their collaboration with the DJ collective Club Infektio, which provides music after the live performances, further illustrates the community-focused effort that underpins the event, creating a space that both supports local talent and connects the Finnish scene to its global counterparts.

The Live Experience

The festival is structured to offer two distinct atmospheres. The pre-club night at On the Rocks will provide a concentrated and direct concert setting, typical of an indoor club show. The main festival days at Tiivistämö, set within the post-industrial landscape of Suvilahti, will present a larger, more dynamic environment.

Attendees can expect an experience defined by the high-energy and rhythmic intensity of the music, with the various subgenres contributing to a varied sonic landscape, from the melodic and atmospheric qualities of darkwave and synthpop to the aggressive, percussive force of EBM and industrial metal. The combination of established, legacy acts with contemporary artists will likely create a charged atmosphere that connects different generations of the dark electronic music scene.

Ticket Information

Tickets are available for purchase, with options for the full three-day festival or single-day passes. A three-day ticket is priced at €104.00. A two-day ticket for the main festival events on Friday and Saturday at Tiivistämö is available for €89.00. Single-day tickets for Friday or Saturday cost €59.00 each. All ticket purchases through the vendor Tiketti are subject to additional service fees.

Conclusion

The 2025 Hellsinki Industrial Festival continues its function as a key event for the European dark electronic music scene. The lineup demonstrates a clear curatorial direction, balancing foundational darkwave acts like Clan of Xymox with the evolving, aggressive industrial sounds of artists such as Dawn of Ashes.

A comprehensive festival experience is created through the use of two distinct venues: the intimate club setting of On the Rocks and the larger, post-industrial space of Tiivistämö. Over its three days, the festival will become a nexus for a dedicated international fanbase and a broad range of artists working within these niche genres.