by DAN SOUTHALL
DO YOU like hardcore? Do you like Madball, the quintessential NYHC band? Of course you do, and as such you are going to love this album.
Just like every other band with a 30+ year career, they aren’t without their shaky releases. But Madball have never completely shat the bed or decided to try bad fringes and whiny tunes. That just isn’t in vocalist/main man Freddie Cricien’s blood. This album is one more example of why they are one of the most important bands in their genre, and how hard earned it is.
From the immediate stomp of opener “Tethered” or tough story of “Stab Wounds”, everything that makes up the sound of the band is true and correct. The small additions to the formula such as melody on “Rebel Kids” and its reggae-influenced companion interlude “Rebelude” making a talking point for old fans to complain about.
As Madball are getting older, Cricien is getting more reflective, letting his slightly softer underbelly show up lyrically particularly on the back half of Not Your Kingdom. Tracks such as “Sunrise” flick through an imaginary radio dial playing a variety of snippets before launching into “Life’s a Mural”, reflecting on growing up in the music he loves and calling out an invisible enemy.
With the untimely passing of Sick Of It All vocalist Lou Koller on the same day as this album is released, penultimate track “The Ride” and album closer “Chase A Dream” carry an extra ounce of weight, covering exactly the type of topics you would expect from NYHC and Cricien’s reflective lyrics at their rawest on the album.
As I wrote in the opening paragraph, Madball do one thing, and that is hardcore… the right way. If that isn’t your flavour then this album won’t be doing much to convince you otherwise. Not sure why though, because you are missing out on one of the best hardcore albums of the year.
