I’m sure I speak for most metalheads when I say that the 1990’s were “problematic”. With the advent of grunge and the alt-rock revolution, many old school heavy metal acts either disbanded or, worse still, changed styles. Therefore, many of us looked for new forms of heavy music and found a welcome refuge in the hardcore scene. Bands such as Sick Of It All, Biohazard and Cro-Mags served up a metallic brand of music with a lyrical realism that made them all the more heavy. Perhaps the most ferocious of all these bands were Madball, a combo from New York City who channelled the desolation of their urban surroundings into a sound that could hold its own with any metal band, before or since. With a legacy that transcends genres, True To The Game: The Roadrunner Years collects Madball’s first three albums into one explosive set and shows why they remain leaders in their field.

Disc One: Set It Off (1994)

The roots of Madball stretch back to the mid-1980’s when Freddy Cricien would join his older brother’s band Agnostic Front on stage to perform guest vocals. Starting life as a side project, the band released a couple of independent EP’s, but things really started rolling when Agnostic Front folded and guitarist Vinnie Stigma hooked up with Freddy. Inking a deal with Roadrunner Records, the first fruit of their union was Set It Off, an album that smokes like fresh kill. Opening with a collage of sounds from New York’s cold, hard streets (kind of like Black Sabbath for Gen X), the title-track hits like a bullet between the eyes and sets a dangerous template for the coming 25-minutes. This is an angry record that seethes rage through its grooves; ‘It’s Time’ and ‘Across Your Face’ are visceral and roar with unbridled rage. Back in 1994, New York was still very much in the mould of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Set It Off provides a grim snapshot of reality, and one which hits like a splash of ice cold water.

With Agnostic Front on hiatus, Madball were in many ways their natural successors and carried the torch into the 1990’s. Adding a cover of ‘Friend Or Foe’ only served to highlight their musical lineage, but make no mistake; Set It Off found Madball stepping out of the shadows to become a band in their own right, lighting kindling that continues to burn to this day.

Disc Two: Demonstrating My Style (1996)

In many ways 1996’s Demonstrating My Style can be seen as an extension of Set It Off. The band deliver a selection of bruisers that roll with menace, and while it’s true that the band aren’t reinventing the wheel, it finds them consolidating their position as torch bearers of New York hardcore (with plenty of emphasis on hard). Madball had started to make inroads into the mainstream via the video for ‘Pride (Times Are Changing)’ which received heavy rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball and won the band new fans from an army of disenfranchised metalheads. Just a cursory listen to this album should tell you why; there’s a definite metallic edge to cuts such as ‘Back Of The Bus’ that are very pit-inducing and won Madball slots at metal festivals such as Dynamo. This record rendered Madball the archetypal “tough guy” band (and paved the way for the likes of Merauder and Hatebreed) because each of these songs swagger with menace and suggest you don’t get too close. From police brutality (‘5-0’) to the mean avenues of NYC (‘Streets Of Hate’), this album was a damning indictment of New York in 1996, and one that remains totally relevant.

Including another Agnostic Front cover as a hidden track (‘Ball Of Destruction’), Demonstrating My Style nevertheless found Madball solidifying their signature sound and displaying their own style.

Disc Three: Look My Way (1998)

Co-produced by guitarist Matt Henderson, 1998’s Look My Way is the sound of a band coming into their own, the metamorphosis from side project to their own band was complete. Gone are the cover versions, and includes ‘Our Family’ their first song sung entirely in Spanish (a reworking of ‘Nuestra Familia’ from the previous album, Freddy’s family originated in Latin America). In the traditional, conservative world of hardcore it was too big a leap for some but Madball brought the genre bang up to date and delivered a fine slab of modern day hardcore. It’s one that’s aged very well and has been given the ultimate seal of approval by bands such as Terror who cite its sparse, crystalline sound as an influence. Look My Way was another hard album with the opening track landing a hefty blow and then reigning down punches over the course of a dozen songs with ‘Walk Away’ and ‘Moment Of Truth’ being particularly potent. This disc contains two bonus cuts, ‘Talkin’ To Myself’ (a track that’d be reworked on their next album Hold It Down) and ‘Fool’s Die’, a cut that explores some of the band’s more metal tendencies. Look My Way…if you dare.

In the world of hardcore you’d have trouble finding three harder albums than those presented here. Listened to in succession, these three discs show an evolution, a clear arc of travel, but Madball have always been in constant motion; it’s like their song says: ‘Been There, Done That’.

• True To The Game: The Roadrunner Years is released via Cherry Red Records on 18th April 2025.

Track List:

Disc One: Set It Off (1994)

1. Set It Off
2. Lockdown
3. New York City
4. Never Had It
5. It’s Time
6. C.T.Y.C. (R.I.P.)
7. Across Your Face
8. Down By Law
9. Spit On Your Grave
10. Face To Face
11. Smell The Bacon (What’s With You?)
12. Get Out
13. The World Is Mine
14. Friend Or Foe (Hidden Track)

Disc Two: Demonstrating My Style (1996)

1. Demonstrating My Style
2. Unity
3. Live Or Die
4. Pride (Times Are Changing)
5. Streets Of Hate
6. Back Of The Bus
7. Hardcore Still Lives!
8. Nuestra Familia
9. 5-0
10. Addict
11. True To The Game
12. Godfather
13. In Memory Of…
14. Ball Of Destruction (Hidden Track)

Disc Three: Look My Way (1998)

1. Look My Way
2. Moment Of Truth
3. Cut Off
4. Temptation Or Restraint
5. Waste Of Time
6. False Threats
7. Pushin’ Me
8. Walk Away
9. Our Family
10. Lesson Of Life
11. All I Can Take
12. Been There, Done That
13. Talkin’ To Myself *
14. Fool’s Die *

* Additional Tracks