Maintaining urgency, authenticity and integrity has never been an issue for New York City’s hardest, Madball. "For The Cause" is Madball's ninth aural chapter; a signature collection of lionhearted, groove-laden, street-level New York Hardcore as only Madball can bring it.
Track list:
- Smile Now Pay Later
- Rev Up
- Freight Train
- Tempest
- Old Fashioned
- Evil Ways
- Lone Wolf
- Damaged Goods
- The Fog
- Es Tu Vida
- For You
- For The Cause
- Confessions
Maintaining urgency, authenticity and integrity has never been an issue for New York City’s hardest, and hardest working band, Madball. Twenty-five years along as a recording and touring entity, Madball brings forth its ninth aural chapter, "For The Cause"; a signature collection of lionhearted, groove-laden, street-level New York Hardcore as only Madball can bring it.
Throughout the band’s storied history, Madball has asserted its mission; carrying forth a simple yet righteous cause, and this time around, they’ve chosen to define that cause more succinctly than ever before. "For The Cause" sees the return to the fold of guitarist Matt Henderson, who hasn’t appeared on a Madball album since 2000’s "Hold It Down", for which Henderson also served as producer.
Unique to this album is the stellar production work by Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, who clearly helped express Madball’s distinctive voice powerfully and dynamically without stepping on the trademark formula the band has forever carried, yet constantly seeks to improve upon.
The production from Tue Madsen is powerful and brings back the sound of albums like Hold It Down and Demonstrating My Style. Madball knows not to stray too far from their core sound, but they offer a lot more variety on "For The Cause"; there is punk, metal and hardcore. Ice T makes a guest appearance on Evil Ways and Tim from Rancid drops some lines on The Fog.
Surprisingly, Freddy tried some new things with his vocals; he sings with melody on a few tracks.
Lyrically , the themes remain the same; family, honor, personal demons and social injustices.
While the last few albums fell into sounding too familiar and alike, Madball brought back their older style with this new release. Freddy absolutely slays it on standout tracks Tempest, Lone Wolf and Confessions. Songs like Freight Train, The Fog and For You feature gang choruses and are more punk infused. The title track is catchy with an infectious chorus.
25 years later, Madball is still holding the torch for NYHC.
Also available as LP and exclusively via the Madball Merch store in Limited Solid Blue
