Metal Underground.com

Column

Sunday Old School: Madball

What did you get up to when you were twelve years old? Did you play video games at home, play sports outside or go fishing with your dad? Whatever it was, chances are you weren’t in a hardcore band. Not a lot of people can say that, but Freddy Cricien can. Freddy Cricien is the younger half brother of Agnostic Front singer Roger Miret and would frequently join the band onstage to perform The Animals’ song, "It’s My Life." Eventually, Cricien was encouraged to start his own band, which he did in 1988 at the age of twelve with Miret on bass, Agnostic Front guitarist Vinnie Stigma and drummer Will Shepler. Naming the band, Madball, their music mostly comprised of unused Agnostic Front material and they quickly released their first demo, "Ball Of Destruction" in 1989. After adding a second guitarist in the form of Matt Henderson and spending a few more years performing, the band finally released another record in 1992 entitled, "Droppin’ Many Suckers."

Following Miret’s departure, Cricien recruited a friend of his, Hoya Roc to become the band’s new bassist and shortly afterwards, the group found themselves signed to Roadrunner Records. Through the label, Madball released their full length album, "Set It Off" in 1994, which enabled the band to tour not only across America, but also in Europe, performing at such events as Dynamo Open Air, as well as appearing in the documentary movie NYHC in 1995. They continued to expand their fanbase the next year when they released "Demonstrating My Style," a record which features the song, "Pride (Times Are Changing,)" arguable their most well known song along with the title track from "Set It Off." Two more albums, "Look My Way" and "Hold It Down" were released in 1998 and 2000 respectively, both of which received good reviews from critics and were met with positive feedback from fans, before the band decided to call it a day in early 2001.

The split didn’t last long however as Cricien and Hoya resurrected Madball late the next year, writing new music and touring internationally. Although the group came back in 2002, it would take until 2005 before they released a new full length album (though an EP entitled, NYHC was released in 2004,) which came in the shape of "Legacy." Since the release of the record, Madball have continued to perform all over the world, cementing their place as one of the true greats of the New York hardcore scene, easily ranking highly with Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All. They’ve also been releasing new music, with "Infiltrate The System" hitting the shelves in 2007, before their most recent record, "Empire" was released last year. The Madball name is now proving to transcend genres and the band has become rather popular amongst the New York hip-hop scene, being referenced by the likes of Ill Bill and Q Unique, not least in part to Cricien's own hip-hop outputs under the name Freddy Madball, the moniker with which he released his solo album, "Catholic Guilt."

Madball - "Down By Law"

Madball - "Pride"

Madball - "It's My Life/Lockdown/Friend Or Foe"

Madball - "Heavenhell"

Ollie Hynes has been a writer for Metal Underground.com for four years and has been a metal fan for ten years, going so far as to travel abroad for metal shows.