The 21st century version of Madball strays only a little on Hold It Down, the New York hardcore outfit's first release for Epitaph Records.
In the many years since their inception, the band's sound managed to evolve a bit, and careful scrutiny of each disc leading to this 2000 offering will reveal increasingly modern aggro and even hip-hop influences.
The caustic vocal approach of Freddy Cricien remained constant and threatening, especially with his updated urban inflections, and of course the music remained brutal, if just a little slower.
On Hold It Down, the shorter-than-average song lengths maintain a little old-school tradition, but some '80s NY hardcore purists will definitely consider this a plodding effort.
Each groove has a sticky nu-metal flavor that fortunately gets hardened properly by Cricien's pummeling vocal assaults.
The he-man posturing goes over the top on a few tracks, like "Show No Fear," but considering this group's impressive track record, they have a right to boast a little.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Can't Stop, Won't Stop | Madball | Play | 01:01 | 2 MB | 7 MB |
| 2 | Hold It DownMadball | Madball | Play | 02:18 | 5 MB | 17 MB |
| 3 | Fall This Time | Madball | Play | 02:28 | 5 MB | 18 MB |
| 4 | Everyday Hate | Madball | Play | 01:15 | 2 MB | 9 MB |
| 5 | Done... | Madball | Play | 01:38 | 3 MB | 12 MB |
| 6 | D.I.F.M.M. | Madball | Play | 00:39 | 1 MB | 3 MB |
| 7 | Show No Fear | Madball | Play | 02:35 | 5 MB | 18 MB |
| 8 | Never Look Back | Madball | Play | 01:46 | 4 MB | 13 MB |
| 9 | Still Searching | Madball | Play | 02:13 | 5 MB | 16 MB |
| 10 | Confessions | Madball | Play | 01:45 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 11 | Thinking to Myself | Madball | Play | 03:38 | 8 MB | 25 MB |
| 12 | Semper Fi | Madball | Play | 02:46 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 13 | Say What | Madball | Play | 01:50 | 4 MB | 13 MB |
| 25 mins | 59 MB | |||||
| 25 mins | 185 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Aldi | Photography |
| 2 | Donnie Cox | Illustrations |
| 3 | Freddy Cricien | Vocals |
| 4 | Joe Darone | Art Direction, CD Layout, Coloring, Photography |
| 5 | Erin Farley | Assistant |
| 6 | Dario Franco | Photography |
| 7 | Tim Gilles | Mastering |
| 8 | Matt Henderson | Guitar, Producer |
| 9 | Dan Iannuzzelli | Mixing |
| 10 | Jason Kanter | Engineer |
| 11 | Madball | Composer, Cover Art Concept, Primary Artist |
| 12 | Roger Miret | Executive Producer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |