In Black Metal there’s an old spirit of defiance, an somber and sinister idea that brings music to the age of being extreme and funereal. On the beginning, the genre was focused on aggressiveness and harshness (an inheritance of MOTÖRHEAD and Punk/Hardcore acts as SEX PISTOLS and DISCHARGE), of rebellion against well-stated musical models. This non-conformity feature is natural, but one must understand it before go saying a lot of wrong ideas about the genre (even the fans of it, to be honest). And this rebellion is clear on “An Abscess on the Heart of the State”, the first album of TUMULTUOUS RUIN.

This North American one man band dares to unconformity and to raise the flag of antifascism using a brutal and oppressive form of Old School Black Metal in the vein of BATHORY on “The Return”/”Under the Sign of the Black Mark” era, but gathering influences of the early 90s Black Metal (pay attention to the riffing on “Sabotage Glee” to have the clear idea about it) and from Punk/Hardcore as well (some elements of the genre are clear on the guitar riffs of “Desecrate Machine As Our World Dies”). Besides such words can be depicting something complicated, it’s the opposite: this formula is well-known and was used countless times before, but on H’s hands, things gain an identity. And for Black Metal fans, this album is a very good experience, indeed.

The album was mixed and mastered on two different studios: Clean Sheets Audio (for tracks “Destroy What Destroys Us”, “Sabotage Glee”, “Revel in Downfall”, “Dystopic Hellscape” and “Last Rites of the Dying World”) and Hazelwood Audio (for “Desecrate Machine As Our World Dies” and “Unmoor”), and it’s a typical sonority for a band with such appeal: crude, organic and nasty as Hell. But things can be understood, and such approach worked in a great way for the band. And the cover created by Unexpected Specter fits on the band’s musical expressions, bearing a simple and old fashioned appeal.

The brutality and explosive appeal of “An Abscess on the Heart of the State” is hard for a Black Metal fan to resist to, especially on moments as “Destroy What Destroys Us” (the guitar riffing and fast speed in an Old School form is amazing, firing hooks at will on the hearers’ ears), “Sabotage Glee” (a 90s Black Metal outfit is what’s offered, with extreme fast tempos entangling with ‘frost storm’-like guitars, and with an oppressive work of bass guitar and drums), “Desecrate Machine As Our World Dies” (some hardcore/Punk Rock influences can be clearly felt on this one), and the oppressive and nasty “Last Rites of the Dying World”. But don’t dare to leave “Revel in Downfall”, “Unmoor” and “Dystopic Hellscape” without being heard as well!

After all, “An Abscess on the Heart of the State” gives the idea that TUMULTUOUS RUIN could come before with a full-length, and make the fans desire more of the band in the (near) future.