MadballFor The Cause

Madball are back with their ninth studio album For The Cause. The latest release from the resilient New York powerhouse joins their already extensive hardcore family that has produced in most recent years bangers like Infiltrate The System, Empire and Hardcore Live. Their new baby has become the solid bookend of progression in both sound, ideas and execution.

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The band want for very little in For The Cause. Frantic guitars and pummelling drums give the songs an attractive momentum and provide the bulk of substance. Vocalist Freddy Cricien kills it as he spits furious words and pumps up the collective agro of the outfit.

Madball have produced something that is without question an aphrodisiac for punk.

Though Madball categorise this release as hardcore, it’s definitely leaning more toward their unique brand of power-punk, even throwing a peppering of other elements lent to their sound by an accolade of guests. Rev Up and its odd intro beckon to hip-hop, the spitting Spanish in Es Tu Vida is a reminder of Madball’s origins and a great way to twist the otherwise anarchic genre in with a little culture. In Old Fashioned we really get a taste of what it is for Madball to be hardcore, with the guitar solo in The Fog a rip of surprise in a sometimes otherwise predictable album.  

Genres and categories are important, they guide people toward the kind of sound they want to hear and Madball have produced something that is without question an aphrodisiac for punk.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Old Fashioned, Es Tu Vida, For The Cause
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Terror, H20, Agnostic Front