Ambassador Gun “When in Hell” Review

Grindcore, in all of its many varied forms, has never been an easy style for the masses to digest. While the influence of Terrorizer and Napalm Death on aggressive music is undeniably strong these days—with artists like Trap Them, Pig Destroyer, and Anaal Nathrakh making waves with critics and bands such Job For A Cowboy charting high on the Soundscan charts—it seemed to be a sound that was always destined for the underground due to its unbelievable extremeness. Admittedly only a select few bands do it right. Then there are the unfathomable legions of lesser “grindcore” bands for whom the style is simply a mask for weak songwriting and amateur musicianship. Even for the most pissed-off among us, accepting the notion that most of the spawns of the bastard-son of death metal and hardcore are legitimately listenable always seems to be taken with a grain of salt. I’d venture to guess that the birthrate of awesome grindcore bands is about 1/100th of that of the other mentally-stunted nerf herders whose garbage disgraces the name of grind’s forefathers. These days a big city is lucky to have even one truly respectable act, and fortunately for us, these frigid Minneapolis streets have spawned one for the world to hear.

With their latest album When In Hell, local grindcore stalwarts Ambassador Gun have honed in on an envious sound that sacrifices none of their intensity, yet the album still has enough catchy, groovy, rhythmic shred fests to turn heads en masse. The core band has spent nearly a decade practicing their craft in the basement studios and dank clubs around the Minneapolis area, and it shows. When In Hell is their strongest release yet. One part Nasum, one part Slayer, a teaspoon of Mastodon, and a dash of Cro-Mags: it is a fresh, reinvigorating breath of air to genre that is running out of places to grow. And, most amazingly? It really has no true peer in the mainstream.

[live shot via MySpace]

Album opener “Killed Hookers Money” doesn’t waste any time trying to slowly usher the listener in and is indicative of the band’s fervor for grindcore. No less than two seconds into the song, supremely fast blastbeats sound off and immediately melt away any notion that When In Hell will be an easy listen. However, after the short transitional track “Ignorance” bleeds into its father track “Ignorance is This” peculiar oddities start to pop up signaling that this will be no trite foray through the basic stereotypes of grindcore. Amid the torrential chaos of the band’s deadly attack, melodies begin to steal the stage, and after a fist-pumping punk breakdown a true chorus (gasp!) re-emerges. In a genre that is typically focused on unexpected explosions of noise, such a holistic, song-oriented approach to grind is almost unheard of; much less one that is executed this well.

In fact, the album is packed to the brim with enough tasty nuggets to make any well-versed fan of heavy music giddy. The towering grooves of “Taylor Reign” would be at home on a Mastodon album while “Delorean” opens with a riff that could easily be mistaken as an early Slayer b-side, and parts of “Death Nail” are as identifiably hardcore as anything from Out Of Step by Minor Threat.

Throughout the disc, the band always keeps one dedicated foot firmly planted in the realm of grindcore and death metal. With songs averaging around 90 seconds it’s never long before the gritty, searing guitars, deadly vocals, and blasting drums take the attention back away from all of the other tasty sonic nuggets buried inside each track. However, even at their most extreme moments, the dueling, call-and-response vox of Tim Sieler and Luke Olsen creates a very human, emotional contrast to the Mach III rhythmic backdrop that is unmatched in modern grind.

Purchase | MySpace

Also: Ambassador Gun “Ignorance Is This” Video