The New York hardcore stalwarts return in great form on album ten!
For sure, Madball are a band on whom you can rely. At this stage, the New York hardcore veterans are highly unlikely to deviate much from the musical blueprint that they themselves have helped to forge, but few other bands have their knack for writing prime quality street-core anthems, and ‘Not Your Kingdom’ – the band’s tenth record – has plenty of them. In the words of frontman Freddy Cricien: “No overthinking, nothing contrived, just Madball on a new level.”
It kicks off with the bouncy NYHC groove of ‘Tethered’ – you can imagine the pit going wild for this one – and the full-tilt punk rock of ‘Flammable’, which boasts a beast of a breakdown. A brief interlude then leads into first single ‘Rebel Kids’, whose chorus is custom-built for fists in the air and a loud sing-along. “Rebel kids don’t follow trends/Not when I was coming up/We questioned everything/Seems that’s coming to an end” declares Freddy, reminding us that hardcore – at its best – is outsiders’ music, and as missives from the fringes of society go, this will take some beating.
Musically, from then on, it’s mostly more of the same, but trust us – that’s no bad thing at all. When Madball really put the pedal to the metal (‘Don’t Misstep’, ‘Family First’, ‘IWI’) they still sound absolutely unstoppable. Elsewhere, ‘Life’s A Mural’ and album centrepiece ‘What Say You’ have a slightly more melodic, street-punk vibe to them, and there’s more muscular riffing in store on ‘Stab Wounds’ and ‘Clockwork’. Throw in an another atmospheric interludes (‘Sunrise’), an epic – by Madball standards! – closer (‘Chase A Dream’) and you have a 30-odd minute beast of a record that doesn’t outstay its welcome.
Overall, this is maybe not quite Madball at their absolute best, but ‘Not Your Kingdom’ is undeniably the sound of a band whose inner fire continues to burn brightly after nearly four decades. They’re still here, they’re still refusing to compromise in any way, and they’re still speaking truth to power as directly and forcefully as ever. With these guys, New York hardcore remains in safe hands.
‘Not Your Kingdom’ is released on 24th July via Nuclear Blast Records – pre-order it HERE.
Main Photo Credit: DAVE CAUSA
- Tethered
- Flammable
- Rebelude
- Rebel Kids
- Don’t Misstep
- What Say You
- Stab Wounds
- Sunrise
- Life’s A Mural
- Family First
- Clockwork
- IWI
- The Ride
- Chase A Dream
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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