#TumultuousRuin An Abscess on the Heart of the State

Band: Tumultuous Ruin
Title: An Abscess on the Heart of the State 
Label: Fiadh Productions / Vita Detestabilis Records
Release date:  15 September 2023
Country: USA
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording 

This album starts with high energy right from the first second. An infectious riff and blasting drums, woooohh, I think this will be a very good ride, I said to myself instantly… And, indeed!, it’s been great!

Tumultuous Ruin is labeled as a RABM band, and to be honest, I didn’t know what this acronym stands for until I looked it up… Yeah, Red Anarchist Black Metal. Well, you need to check the lyrics to catch it, of course. And you’ll find a lot of anarchist and antifascist messages written in poetic manners. The message is important here, the compromise is real. 

(Of course, by saying “poetic manners” I don’t mean using nice words, because this kind of lyrics are neither soft nor gentle. But well, poetry has so many faces…)

Musically, oh yes, this is Black Metal and I can listen to some Death Metal influences here and there. And I think its superpower resides in its rough sound. This is not a clean mix, I think it sounds as it is supposed to sound: raw music for a raw message. Even if sometimes it seems that all instruments are mixed in a kind of chaotic way, here lies the charm of Tumultuous Ruin: being like a deafening roar, a rumble in your ears in order to permeate your brain with its message.

THE man (yeah, this is a one man band) is Ryan Harper, or simply “H”, and he brings us his sharpened and cold riffs, the thunderous drums at full speed with the double bass pedal literally on fire, lots of blast beats, and plenty of cymbals smashed; and the roar of his voice that most of the times sounds raw, aggressive, with reverb. This makes the songs sound even more obscure, with an atmosphere full of turmoil.

Almost all the songs in the album start like a furious rhyno running towards you: frantic drums and sharpened guitars set things clear. But the closing track, “Last Rites of the Dying World” sets the pace into a more slow down tempo. Totally suitable for the lyrics in my opinion: 

“We burn ourselves
for a sunrise rebirth
a sunrise never seen.
Hierarchy
the scourge of man
bonded to extinction.”

I’ve enjoyed listening to this album, not only for the music but also for the lyrics. These 7 pieces of a global raging storm are worthy to be listened to on repeat. Let yourself be wrapped into the raw sound of Tumultuous Ruin and get ready for total destruction.  For me it’s 8/10  Sílvia

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Fiadh Productions 
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Vita Detestabilis Records
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8/10 To Greatness and Glory!
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