Richard HolmesMadball – Not Your Kingdom (Nuclear Blast)
July 24, 2026 should have been time for celebration for Madball and their fans.
Their first album in eight years. Brand new material from one of New York hardcore’s most revered acts. A big moment.
But the news hit that Lou Koller, the irrepressible Sick Of It All frontman, had passed away following a long battle with cancer.
Describing his death has “heartbreaking”, Madball labelled Koller “an icon and a pillar” in an Instagram post. To say he was an important and influential figure for the scene was “putting it mildly”.
Madball and Sick Of It All were brothers in arms.
And both bands played a huge role in helping NYHC to step out of the five boroughs… and on to the world stage. In ’94, punks across the globe lapped up SOIA’s breakthrough, Scratch The Surface, and Madball’s explosive debut, Set It Off.
More than that, those records, hot on the heels of Biohazard’s Urban Discipline, gave jaded thrashers a harder, rawer sound to mosh to, just as their favourite bands were slowing down and chasing mainstream glory. HC godfathers Agnostic Front, where Madball vocalist Freddy Cricien cut his teeth as a callow youth, returned from hiatus.
A fire was lit…
And thanks to those bands – and the countless others that followed – it was never extinguished.
Which brings us to Not Your Kingdom.
This album release may be “bittersweet” for its creators.
But more than 30 years after Set It Off unloaded on us, Not Your Kingdom is a reminder of Madball’s unbridled potency. The anger, the defiance, the sheer grit that coursed through their debut and Demonstrating My Style… it’s still right there as Cricien rips through opener Tethered and the band ignite on Flammable.
“I’m full of passion and rage” roars Madball’s singer on the anthemic Rebel Kids.
We never doubted it.
And while long-time bassist Jorge ‘Hoya Roc’ Guerra – a mainstay since ’93 – may have departed, his exit hasn’t dented this act’s attack. Paul Delaney of Black Anvil and Kill Your Idols is now in the fold, and he’s done a fine job of anchoring Madball’s onslaught – whether that manifests in outright, metallic brutality (Stab Wounds) or the low slung punk rock of Life’s A Mural.
Like its predecessor, 2018’s For The Cause, Not Your Kingdom draws on all of Madball’s strengths – and the band’s post-noughties penchant for huge hooks. Where For the Cause had Rev Up, this record gives us Rebel Kids. The Ride? It deserves its place among the quartet’s golden greats: the writing here is sublime.
But of course, it wouldn’t be a Madball album without some head stomping, back-alley HC. “Never forget I’m a soldier first” spits Freddy, as Don’t Misstep takes a crunch out of the Big Apple. Clockwork turns from switchblade grooves to rapid fire, in a breathless assault. IWI? It’s a 30-second blast off.
So ten albums down the line, Madball know exactly what they’re about.
And why they’re still here.
They remain authentic, honest and utterly vital.
Not Your Kingdom it may be, but this record deserves regal status.
Band photo by David Causa.