It cannot be easy living with your past and legacy. “Heavy lies the crown” or so they say. With this new album, “Not Your Kingdom” This is my immediate takeaway from the album opener “Tethered” by New York Hardcore pioneers Madball. A band who helped write the entire blueprint. You can’t have a conversation about the genre without them entering the conversation. It’s required, you cannot escape it. Whether you like it or not, Madball are there, Ten albums deep and not going anywhere.
I resonate with this personally in a few ways. I grew up in the Lower East Side, and while I watched my childhood home disappear, I still work in the neighborhood almost every day, I never left. It’s a constant that’s always there, and when I think of the deep rich musical history this city has, even this neighborhood has, Madball is there too. For someone like me, even as a Ramones obsessed kid in elementary school, who was in the same class as Freddys niece, to much later being an extra in their music videos, to hearing their influence in almost every modern hardcore album, to being in the thank yous on this album… I’m tethered to it.
So what do you do? Do you chase the idea of writing another “Set It Off” more than 30 years later?
No.
Do you get with the times?
Also no.
Madball don’t need to reinvent the wheel, they helped create it.
In a world where hardcore is re-entering the mainstream, Madball have Been there, done that.
Even so, Madball manage to continue carving their own path in the modern age of hardcore. Sticking to a sound you know so well, Madball can easily fall under the file that Bolt Thrower or Motörhead have done in the past, and have you say to yourself “yep, this is clearly a Madball album”. Taking all the best moments from past albums and combining them into a new sonic chapter in their long book.
Solidified with this lineup, the band’s energy hasn’t depleted at all. Possibly the most they’ve had in a long time. I truly enjoyed the 2014 offering “Hardcore Lives” and I personally feel this one is even better.
Freddy Cricien stands tall and proud as the bands only original member. It is impossible to deny he’s still one of the best lead singers in the game. His vocal style instantly recognizable, this time sharpened, honed and just as gruff and pissed as ever. Those out of touch, or newer to this genre could conceive his lyrical content as “outdated” or “old man yelling at cloud” (which I feel like I am doing constantly, when I write). But in reality they are very retrospective, and self aware. He’s seen a lot, and honestly, we should listen. Still waiting for a NYHC memoir from him, his brother, Roger Miret’s one: “My Riot” was a really fun read, and I’d love to see one from Freddy’s point of view.
Sometime after the classic song “Pride (Times are Changing)” you could begin to expect almost like clockwork for each record to have an anthem style sing along. “Not Your Kingdom” is no exception to that rule. Songs you can’t help but bob your head to. Catchy hook laden anthems with “Rebel Kids”, “Life’s a Mural” and “The Ride” are mandatory. It’s part of their DNA at this point.
This is the first album to not feature longtime legacy bassist Hoya Roc, who became a staple of Madball immediately upon joining in 1993. His departure left an almost impossible task of finding an appropriate person to take over that duty was seemingly easier than it should have been. Longtime associate Paul Delaney’s bass tone and style is impetuous and thunderous, it fits right in and immediately is clear his hand is there in the writing.
Pairing with him with Mike Justian, solidifies the rhythm section. Mike is the best drummer Madball has ever had, and this will be his third album with them. Paired together, Delaney and Justian are unstoppable. The groove is tight and heavy, they are locked in and it stands out instantaneously. But if need be, they both can dumb it up and bring it down for some of the best and hardest Madball mosh parts in a long time. This is quite apparent on tracks like “Don’t MisStep” and “Stab Wounds”
Also joining us for his first Madball album is guitarist Mike Gurnari, who clearly knows what he is doing. He doesn’t bring anything new to the band really but he doesn’t need to. What we get is a fresh coat of paint, a light restored. The guitar tone is chunky and thick, in the best way possible. For longtime fans you know exactly what to get, his guitar work would feel right at home on any of the bands past catalogue.
For first time listeners, this won’t be as easy and longtime fans, but does that mean there isn’t something for them? No. Putting it plain and simple if you like hardcore, there is something you will enjoy on this record. Standing at 30 minutes, (The appropriate length for a Hardcore LP) its over just as it had started, in your face and blistering. For madball don’t need to prove they are a constant, an absolute.
Like a plant regrowing through concrete, or fresh new soles on an old pair of steel toe Doc Martins. This record does what it set out to do. Fantastically, with the finesse and expertise you should expect from veterans. This has some of the best modern production in their catalog as well. If this is what I can expect from the band in the future, then I am happy to say Madball can’t stop and won’t stop.
Standout tracks: “Flammable”, “What Say You” “Stab Wounds” and “Family First”
-L
