by Vincent Jeffries

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.