The Awakening is a South African gothic rock band founded in Johannesburg in 1995 by vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Ashton Nyte.

The Awakening is credited in the press as "South Africa's most successful gothic rock act and one of the top bands in the far broader alternative scene.

Guitarist-vocalist Ashton Nyte began his musical career as frontman for the South African rock band Martyr's Image, formed in early 1994.

In 1995, Nyte asked Martyr's Image bassist Jenni Hazell and guitarist Philip Booyens to join him in his new project, which was tentatively titled "Children of the Torch" but later changed to "The Awakening" just prior to their first show in February 1996.

More concerts followed, and amidst a steady schedule of shows Nyte returned to the studio to record his cover of the Simon and Garfunkel song "The Sounds of Silence."

[5] In November 1998, Ashton Nyte launched his own independent record label, Intervention Arts, and reissued the two previous Awakening albums as remastered editions with bonus tracks and new layouts.

With a new five-member live lineup, Nyte created The Awakening's third album, Ethereal Menace, which utilizes elements of industrial music.

The song "The Dark Romantics" became a gothic club dance floor anthem throughout the world and remains one of the band's most well-known singles to date.

Garrick van der Tuin replaced Glenn Welman as a live drummer, which influenced the harsher sounds heard on the album.

According to Nyte, Roadside Heretics marked a new era for The Awakening, as he focused on capturing the trademark live performance intensity within the album's sound.

Songs such as "One More Crucifixion", "Angelyn", and "The Needle and the Gun" achieved a positive reception worldwide [11] and notable success on South African and German charts.

The live tour lineup included gothic fashion designer Rose Mortem on piano and keyboards, who married Nyte the same year.

While Risen strongly emphasizes an older school of guitar-driven gothic rock, Request embraced electronics and the 1980s new romantic movement.

"Ethereal Menace" started the age of "dark-future-rock"—which is, as Nyte describes, "a hybrid of hard electronics and chunky guitars, with a strong dance floor undercurrent."