FREDDY CRICIEN On Upcoming MADBALL Album 'Not Your Kingdom': 'It's By Far' The Band's 'Most Diverse' LP

In a new interview with Hardlore, MADBALL frontman Freddy Cricien spoke about the band's upcoming long-awaited follow-up to 2018's "For The Cause" album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's called 'Not Your Kingdom'. And I predict that you're gonna love the cover. It's a very throwback vibe. [It has] a nostalgic feel to it, but it's also current. It's very in line with like the lyrical content and the message. And it's by far the most diverse MADBALL album, even more so than 'For The Cause', which I thought 'For The Cause', we did a lot of different stuff, which we were happy to do, because you can't just keep doing the same album over and over."

He continued: "Obviously, you wanna hear our sound, but I like that we were venturing out and doing different stuff on that one. And this one is — yeah, there's some songs that are reminiscent of 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop'… It's very eclectic in the best way, I think. It's gonna be for the people to judge. But I'm super proud of it. And writing with these guys was very natural. It wasn't forced. It wasn't, like, 'Oh.' We all were hungry. It's been 2018 since we put out an album."

As for when fans can expect to see "Not Your Kingdom" released, Freddy said: "May. It kept getting pushed back because of just nonsense. The album was done, but then we had to get it remixed, 'cause we didn't like the first mix. And then artwork got held up. And then you gotta wait for it to go into the Nuclear Blast system, which is always, like, 'Why can't you just drop this tomorrow?' That's not how it works. So now it's finally in the system, and it's gonna come out in May. I think people are gonna dig it. I hope so."

Last October, MADBALL announced that a new single called "Tethered" would precede the "Not Your Kingdom" LP. A fan-filmed video of a recent performance of the track can be seen below.

In August 2023, longtime MADBALL bassist Jorge "Hoya Roc" Guerra announced his departure from the band. Cricien later said that there was "no bad blood or animosity" between him and Guerra, explaining that they were "simply moving in different directions".

MADBALL originated in the late 1980s, as a side project of AGNOSTIC FRONT. The band developed after AGNOSTIC FRONT frontman Roger Miret would let his younger half-brother, Freddy Cricien, take the microphone and perform lead vocals during AGNOSTIC FRONT shows.

"For The Cause" was released in June 2018 via Nuclear Blast. The record was mixed and mastered by renowned producer Tue Madsen at Antfarm Studios in Denmark. It was co-produced by Tim Armstrong (RANCID),who is also featured on the album.

Press photo courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records