While it tends to be the more outwardly violent emotions that get the spotlight as far as metal is often concerned, it’s when the emotions are turned inward that I find metal to take on some of its most potent forms. In particular, death-doom is a sound so overflowing with possibilities that it’s only a matter of time before we’re given a band that can really tap into the vast potential that the sound always has beneath its surface. Undoubtedly, Sun of the Dying is such a band with their brand of death-doom being nothing if not potent. It’s been six long years since their last full-length outing, and it’s in that time they’ve honed their craft to an extent that tempts the word “masterful”.

The dichotomy of death-doom is something that has long kept us crawling back for more even as the style itself has seen many twists and turns from all sorts of different bands over the years. But when it’s brought forth with real sorrow and suffering delivered with poignancy and talent? That’s when we see only the finest come out of the woodwork to show us that death-doom can still be given extreme justice and performed in such a way that is as flavorful and compelling as it is gripping and enthralling. For everything brought forth throughout the six tracks of “A Throne of Ashes”, it’s clear that Sun of the Dying was not content in sitting still and recycling notions or moves from either of their previous albums. Across a 41-minute runtime, we’re given a display of power that is simply mesmerizing. Armed with terrifically dynamic vocals and a fascinating sense of scale that spans the whole of the record, there isn’t so much as a minute of “A Throne of Ashes” that isn’t carefully crafted to bring you down to your lowest point with naught but the might and presence of Sun of the Dying there for you to latch onto for some semblance of salvation. Sun of the Dying is overflowing with both light and darkness to make this performance an exceedingly dynamic one that never once holds anything back.

Having already been established as a name not to be denied, it’s with this record that Sun of the Dying more than earns the right to be hailed as one of the best up-and-coming names that death-doom has to boast out of its vast repertoire of names. There’s loads to discover throughout “A Throne of Ashes”. You need only to allow the warmth of Sun of the Dying to wash over you with the cold of this world ensuring that you’re tethered to this reality while still under a hypnotic trance induced by impeccable death-doom.

LISTEN to “A Throne of Ashes” on Bandcamp here.

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