Blast beats, blast beats, blast beats!

Shred sessions!

Thrash attacks!

Ambassador Gun demonstrates their eight years of experience with gusto on When in Hell, one of the best metal releases I've heard in some time.

Granted, I haven't listened to much metal at all, but Ambassador Gun's ability to intermingle grind, thrash, hardcore and punk with an evenhanded blend of politics, ire, and sardonic humor means a much broader appeal than most heavy underground acts might yield.

The album opener "Killed Hooker's Money" busts out blast-beating like Nasum while "Serpent Stampede" follows suit. The subsequent "Ignorance Is This" has much more of a heavy hardcore feel with guttural grooves sutured between violent outbursts. The minute-long "Hurricane" returns with a full-out Phobia-like frontal attack and a more conventional outro breakdown that blends inconspicuously.

The cockled homage to hardcore star Taylor Rain on "Taylor Reign" is as riff-heavy as the band gets, while timing signatures are tested to the limits on "Reprisal." "Population Control" and "Bottom Feeder" round out the best tracks of the album with a ferocity rarely witnessed in three-piece bands.

Take it from a non-metalhead--this album rips. It's not concerned with metal posturing or lame Satanic gimmicks, and it's as fun as a metal album can be. Ambassador Gun has found their recipe for successs on When in Hell, and the 16 tracks within prove it.