New York, NY · NYHC · hardcore

Madball

2 upcoming festivals

NYHC royalty — Freddy Cricien's bark over the crossover riffing that defined the Lower East Side sound, hardcore lineage in the literal family sense.

Madball formed in New York in 1988, initially as an offshoot of Agnostic Front, with a young Freddy Cricien — half-brother of Agnostic Front vocalist Roger Miret — handling vocals. The band became a full-time concern in the early 1990s and has been a fixture of New York hardcore ever since, with Cricien and bassist Hoya Roc as the long-running core.

Their sound leans on short, mid-paced songs, chugging metallic riffs and gang vocals, a template that helped shape beatdown hardcore and left a mark on metalcore. Records such as Set It Off, Demonstrating My Style and Look My Way remain touchstones, and the band has toured more or less continuously across Europe and the United States.

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