MADBALL

At a time when millions of people are quite content to ignore objective reality, the pursuit of realness has never been more urgent. MADBALL have been telling it like it is for more than three decades, during which frontman Freddie Cricien has grown from an irrepressible upstart into one of the leading hardcore icons of this (or any other) generation. Any band that has strayed into the hostile environment known as "tough-guy" or "beatdown" hardcore owes at least an internal organ or two to the New York diehards: an AGNOSTIC FRONT spin-off that has matured into perhaps the definitive New York hardcore act. As a result, when MADBALL release a new album, it matters. "Not Your Kingdom" is the band's first full-length release in seven years, and for those waiting patiently for a hardcore album that gets to then point and stays there, this is utterly essential listening.

MADBALL have reached their tenth album without ever having compromised on their singular vision of balls-out hardcore. Opinion may be divided about which records were the most vital, but from seminal debut "Set It Off" to 2018's ferocious "For the Cause", Freddie's crew have been consistent and passionate standard bearers for the NYC sound. On "Not Your Kingdom", they simply pick up where they last left off. Roughly divided between muscular, concrete-clad beatdowns and vigorous, punk rock barbarism, these songs are exactly what fans will be hoping for. Freddie sounds monstrous throughout, too: his streetwise charisma and genre-defining voice reach a new level of potency here. From the opening, cut-throat intensity of "Tethered" onwards, MADBALL are on vintage form, and at a perfectly proportioned 30 minutes, "Not Your Kingdom" is arguably the most cohesive and complete record that they have made yet.

Highlights are numerous. "Tethered" is an instant anthem and an exercise in incitement that will cause absolute bedlam at live shows. "Flammable" is a 59-second, bloodthirsty ambush and an unstoppable blaze of adrenalin. Recent single "Rebel Kids" is this year's gnarliest hardcore punk hymn, and a rowdy celebration of a life spent in constant momentum against the grain. In contrast, "Stab Wounds" is a seething, antagonistic eruption of violence, with MADBALL's thrash metal influences pushed to the fore; and "Life's a Mural" is closer to the yobbish abandon of THE CHISEL than it is to any NYHC forebears. With songs linked with snippets of speech, the sounds of the street, and a distorted radio oscillating between stations, "Not Your Kingdom" has clearly been meticulously planned and executed. More importantly, every last song bristles with belligerence and supreme confidence, as if MADBALL are returning to remind everyone that they were fighting for the cause 30 years ago and have no intention of stopping any time soon. It ends with "Chase a Dream": another flawless hardcore song with balls of steel and haunted by the oppressive stench of authenticity. Realness personified, MADBALL are still the kings of New York.