Single Review: Ashenheart - Stars Wept To The Sea (2026)
- Stuart Ball
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Written: 23rd January 2026
In 2025, Ashenheart’s second EP – Tales From Eternal Dusk (review here) – took top spot when I wrote about my favourite EPs of the year (list and article here). Blending elements of black and death metal with some progressive embellishments, they fuse atmosphere, desolate beauty and venomous ferocity. To begin 2026, they return with Stars Wept To The Sea; a standalone single, it pays tribute to guitarist’s Amanda Kaufmann’s wife who sadly passed away from cancer.
Stars Wept To The Sea opens with clean acoustic guitar and glacial synths. This serene, almost fragile introduction evokes a calm before the storm – a moment of reflection and mourning. Suddenly, the music erupts in a belligerent surge, an attacking guitar riff lashes out with unrelenting fury, channelling the rage, anguish and violent unfairness carved into the lyrics, which Alex Loach spits with a bitter intensity. Eaten away from the inside / With nothing I could do / Life in all its cruelty / Separated you from me.
Throughout the song, the guitars and bass twist into something jagged and uneasy, creating a sense of unresolved tension - a sonic embodiment of the disease’s merciless, destructive grip, where relief never comes and resolution, of any sort, feels agonisingly out of reach. However, the unrelenting, angular, harsh tones mirror the dark nature of the feelings created by some of the lyrics. At times, the track settles into more traditional black metal territory but Stars Wept To The Seas, as does all of the band’s work, blends genres and Steve Wiener’s clean backing vocals, which occasionally become co-lead vocals, add a different tone to some of the verses.
As the song unfolds, the grief deepens into a meditation on shattered dreams and the randomness of fate. Everything we built / Everything we hoped for / washed away / By the tides of random fate. Here, the sense of injustice is palpable and the recurring image of stars weeping becomes a haunting metaphor for cosmic mourning, echoing the enormity of what has been lost. For all we have lost / For a future unrealised.
Compared to Tales of Eternal Dusk, there’s a clear sense that the band embraced a more experimental, almost anarchic approach to song writing. This adventurous spirit sometimes pays off but there are passages where the collision of instruments - including the guitar solo of guest musician Alicia Cordisco - creates a dense swirl that teeters on the edge of sensory overload. Perhaps this turbulence is not accidental - it may well reflect Amanda Kaufmann’s own experience of losing someone to cancer, a grief that is disorienting, overwhelming and impossible to contain. In that light, the disorder feels less like a flaw and more like an honest echo of emotional devastation. The lights gone out / A void all that remains / I'll miss you forever / And I'll never forget this pain.
Just as we think the song has ended, it transforms into something completely different. A beautiful, heart rending piano-led, spoken word coda that, amid the darkness, offers a gossamer-thin thread of hope. You still come to me in my dreams sometimes…I miss you so much But I know our love transcends And I know I’ll see you again. This closing sentiment elevates the song from pure despair into a testament of enduring devotion, suggesting that even in the face of death, connection persists beyond the veil – leaving us with the sense that love triumphs over anger and grief.
Listening to Stars Wept to the Sea feels like stepping into a space where grief and creativity collide. It is not always comfortable; there are passages where the sonic intensity and experimental layering press hard against the edges of control, threatening to spill into chaos. Ashenheart have given themselves permission to turn pain into art and in doing so, they have created something that is as brave as it is challenging. This is not just a song; it is a cathartic release, a way of making sense of the senseless. The fact that all proceeds from this release will be donated to the American Cancer Association only amplifies its meaning, transforming personal tragedy into a gesture of hope and solidarity.
Stars Wept To the Sea is released on 26th January 2026.
Ashenheart online
