SUN OF THE DYING is a Spanish Doom/Death Metal band based in Madrid. They walk the path of authentic Doom/Death Metal, unafraid to incorporate touches from many other styles. The band was founded in 2013 by Casuso (guitar) and Lavín (vocals), and reached a stable lineup in 2017. In late 2024, they returned to The Empty Hall Studio to record their third album, "A Throne of Ashes," released in 2025 by AOP Records. The album was mixed and mastered by Javi Félez at Moontower Studios, with artwork by Manuel Cantero. The album has six songs, and "Martyrs" is first. It eases in slowly, with a thunderous, chugging riff, and a full, rich sound. The harsh vocals are horrid, but the cleans are somber. Orchestration fills in all of the nooks and crannies, and the weight of the emotional burden just increases as the song moves along.

"Black Bird Beneath Your Sky" was the first single released ahead of the album. It comes at you with a darkness that could blot out the sun. Choppy riffs combine with harrowing vocals from an evil smile, and although there are cleans in the chorus, it stays within the confines of the darkness. "With Wings Aflame" enters with clean tones that segue into heavier ones, and the orchestral elements take center stage. Clean, harmonized vocals are first, followed by devastating harsh vocals that reflect a deep pain. A key change ushers in a crescendo of emotion. "The Greatest of Winters" comes at you like a winter storm would…first, howling winds, next, a deep chill, followed by a whiteout of snow. The vocals tell the tale of the greatest winter with a tortured remembrance of the event. It takes a darker turn after the halfway mark with overly tense tones, perhaps foreshadowing another event.

"The House of Asterion" is another punishing song, and the album doesn't seem to have a shortage of them. Desperate and hopeless sound carry the song from there, with a fierce side of rage in the vocals. The two styles wrestle from there, with neither side giving an inch. "Of Absence" closes the album. As with any absence, you might expect withdrawal, pain, even anger, and you get all three here. The chorus is full on with melody, and symphony, and the deep colors represent the sentiment of your remembrance. This song digs deep, opens new wounds, and adds salt to old one, but in a surprising way, also offers hope. It might have the most emotion of any song on the album, and that is saying a lot.

This album stands as a monument to the contradictions of Doom Metal — where anger, sorrow, depression, and rage coexist in a suffocating yet strangely cathartic balance. Sorrow is not simply sorrow, it is colored by rage; depression is not simply numbness, but a raging anger at existence itself. Listening feels like staring into an abyss that both destroys and comforts. It is music that forces you to confront the weight of existence, to recognize the many shades of human anguish, and to find strange solace in their coexistence.