Madball

There was a time when Agnostic Front shadows Madball were a hardcore band. Their penchant for aping the riffs of their brethren was cute at best. Therefore it’s no surprise that Infiltrate The System finds them stepping out of the hardcore ring and into the metal one, just like big brothers Roger Miret and Vinnie Stigma did with their last effort, 2005’s Another Voice,. The strange thing is that in this case, vocalist Freddie Cricien and crew have leapfrogged their idols. Another Voice, well, didn’t have one; it was a jarring mishmash of borderline death metal that was way off base for a band all about brass knuckles and steel-toed boots. With Infiltrate The System, Madball are stronger than ever. Retaining hardcore elements, it’s sincere, pissed-off and confrontational but the methodical, well-planned approach, double-bass chunk, chugging, detuned guitars and barbed attack aren’t metallic in some tepid attempt to duplicate; they just are. Tracks such as opener "We The People,” "Revolt” and "Takeover” elicit comparisons to "Dead Skin Mask”-era Slayer, or even Arch Enemy. It may have taken Madball the better part of two decades to get their act together but with ferocious results such as this, it was worth it.