Ambassador21

DTRASH039 (C)&(P) D-Trash Records

CD / Digital album

The Russians are coming… with some fuck-shit-up digital hardcore mayhem.
IF YOU think tAtU are the most controversial act the former USSR has to offer, that’s because you haven’t yet been introduced to the apocalyptic, eardrum-splitting madness of Belorussian trio AMBASSADOR 21. The artwork for this album, a compilation of the band’s best material since forming in 2001, depicts a naked, supine girl with a machine gun to her head, and the music here never stops living up to such visual extremity.
“Fuck All Systems” mangles the dual-sex vocal attack and rapid-fire gabba assault of ATARI TEENAGE RIOT with rabidly OTT death metal guitars, while “Little Freedom” greedily sucks you into it’s machine gun, guitar-laden industrial vortex.
This is vicious, gleefully chaotic brutality. Scaredy cats and Good Charlotte fans need not apply.

Just the kind of music that would never make a “Ministry of Sound” compilation. Firmly in gabba territory,AMBASSADOR 21 are from Russia and fit D-Trash’s digital hardcore remit perfectly. Punishing, impossible to sit still to and with a vocalist reminiscent of the gals from MELT BANANA, I’d hate to think of the drugs you’d need to dance to this in a club. The scariest thing from Russia since the Cold War.

Hailing from Belorussia, AMBASSADOR 21 are the latest addition to the ever-expanding D-TRASH roster. Formed in the summer of 2001, they quickly established a name for themselves through radio play and their debut album “People Vs. Ambassador 21” sold out almost immediately. To show us why, D-TRASH have released “Ambassador 21 Vs. The World” a compilation CD of their best material from their previous releases along side some new material.
From the opening of “Not Thinking Frogs” it should be immediately obvious why AMBASSADOR 21 gained such notoriety, as the track erupts with a mushroom cloud of nu-metal guitars, rumbling, crunching electronics, distorted vocals and infernal choral loops. It should sound like Digital Hardcore, but it manages to escape the cliches and posturing, instead it embraces real punk ethics and aesthetics, giving it a much more raw and dirty edge. Still, though, it is the omnipresent kick-drum that drives the music with intense 200bpm rhythms, often being reduced to sheer texture by the speed and distortion; it sounds like rapid machine gun fire and is just as frightening.
Occasionally, though, on tracks such as “Little Freedom” and “Cheerfully, Merrily and Impudent”, they embrace more digestible structures with mid-paced 4/4 beats and more groove-oriented guitar work. These work well, so as to introduce some dynamics into the album, but it is when they are in full-on, pounding and hard-riffing mode that AMBASSADOR 21 truly show their colours. Aside from the majestic opener, tracks such as “Fuck All Systems” and “Cuznitsa”, although the stand-out track of the whole album must be “Skyphes” with its sampling of Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”, coupled with thundering percussion, discordant guitars and the dual vocal assault of AMBASSADOR 21’s Natalia and Alexy whose European accent, with its trilling glottals and rasping vowels, lends an almost sexy edge to the music.
It would be unfair for me to draw any comparisons to AMBASSADOR 21, as the closest I can think of is PLACID [a band that I loathe]. Needless to say, they play fast, hard and dirty with an overarching sense of style that gives the music its unquantifiable charm. If I had to fault them at all, it would merely be in the production, which at times gets a tad too gritty [especially the guitars], but not so that it makes the music any less effective, as “Ambassador 21 Vs. The World” is a highly addictive listen. Showing us that digital hardcore can be fresh, exciting and unpretentious, it bodes well for the future of this exciting new band.

After reading about all the hype surrounding AMBASSADOR 21, I finally received the opportunity to hear them for myself first hand. I can see why there’s such a build up about this particular AMBASSADOR 21 release. Its harsh electronic based noise confronting the brinks of industrial madness broken only by the dueling female and male vocals makes for a unique and appealing album. Their music reminds me of F_NOISE, but less punk influenced sounds and the more mainstream sounds of founding DHC makers ATARI TEENAGE RIOT (esp. their track “Rage”). Mainly the comparisons originate from the catchiness and “popular” feel of AMBASSADOR 21’s sound. They don’t seem as harsh as some of the other D-Trash releases, but they do have a noticeable heaviness to their tracks. I like this album, it has a different, but likable feel to it. It didn’t take me long to get into, but I couldn’t see myself listening to it for any lengthy periods of time (my ears would start to bleed). I can’t wait to see what D-Trash is going to release next!

Le digital-hardcore, on aime ou pas, mais il faut quand meme reconnaitre que c’est un des courants recents les plus novateurs de la musique electronique, particulierement la branche « punk » de la chose, depuis les defricheurs que furent Atari Teenage Riot. Ambassador 21 sont bielorusses, et appliquent les techniques mises au point par Alec Empire : alternance de voix hurlees/scandees masculines et feminines, rythmiques techno-hardcore, samples de guitares punk ou metal, mais aussi ambiances industrielles oppressantes. On ne ressort pas indemne de l’ecoute integrale d’ « Ambassador 21 VS The world », compilation disponible en telechargement gratuit sur D-Trash records ; la brutalite bruitiste de certains passages, la voix exceptionnelle de Natalia Protasova, l’incroyable tension qui se degage de certains changements de rythme font de ces morceaux une alternative obligatoire a l’intellectualisme de plus en plus marque d’une scene techno-hardcore qui s’essouffle a vouloir rendre le dancefloor intelligent. A noter que ces activistes de l’ancien bloc sovietique ont a leur actif des collaborations prestigieuses, avec Wattie Buchan (chanteur de The Exploited), Joey Shithead Kelly des legendaires DOA (celebres par les compilations Industrial Strength), Schizoid ou Hyperdriver ; ce qui augure certainement de l’emergence d’un nouveau reseau mondial du digital-hardcore (ou Post-digital-hardcore, comme A21 se definissent eux meme), apres l’implosion de Digital Hardcore Records.