True To The Game - The Roadrunner Years

42 track, three disc set from New York hardcore legends Madball featuring their first three full length studio albums, originally released via Roadrunner Records.

CD1 features their debut full length recording Set It Off, originally released in 1994, while CD2 features the classic follow up Demonstrating My Style, originally released in 1996. The final disc, CD3, features the band’s 1998 full length Look My Way.

Madball began life as a side project of New York hardcore royalty Agnostic Front in the late 80s, sometimes featuring Roger Miret’s younger half-brother Freddy Cricien on vocal duties, leading to Cricien making his debut recording aged just 12-years old on Madball’s first 7” single ‘Ball of Destruction’ in 1989.

The band signed to Roadrunner in 1994 with Cricien barely in his teens and established themselves as hardcore legends with their debut release in the same year. Touring globally at a relentless pace, Madball established themselves as one of the most intense, dedicated, and most importantly credible hardcore bands in the scene, pushing a message of positivity and self- advancement through discipline and application.

This release is complimented with the addition of extensive liner notes from writer Mark Freebase, who conducted brand new interviews with Freddy Cricien himself, as well as guitarist Matt Henderson and drummer Will Shepler (both of whom were also former Agnostic Front members), plus video director Drew Stone and also Howie Abrams, the A&R guy that signed Madball to Roadrunner Records. The release is personally endorsed and approved by Freddy Cricien.

Decibel magazine inducted ‘Set It Off’ into their ‘Hall Of Fame’ series stating; “This is the story of how Cricien, guitarists Vinnie Stigma and Matt Henderson, bassist Jorge “Hoya Roc” Guerra and drummer Will Shepler stormed an otherwise fallow scene a quarter-century ago, forged real evolutionary synergy between the old and new schools, fomented a scene revolution and, amidst the flames, and created ‘Set It Off’, one of the single greatest, most enduring hardcore records of all time.”

Circien once explained the band Madball philosophy in basic terms; “If you’re not fighting for a cause, you’re not participating in life. Simple as that. Speak up, fight, educate yourself, make a difference and make sacrifices for what’s important to you.”