Day 80: Madball – Hold it Down

An experiment.

Intro – What is this going to be? The intro sounds like generic hip-hop, with samples of angry people being interviewed about what “being hardcore” means. “You know, this isn’t 1982, you can’t expect things to sound the way they used to…” “We don’t really like to think about it to much, don’t like to practice moves or anything, we just go out there and do our thing…”

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop – “…New York style.” And there it is. The drums crack out, and the guitars roar to life. All the typical elements are here. That typical hardcore punk beat, the thick and evil power chords hit and sustained out over the galloping drums (such an epic-sounding technique, no wonder all of these bands use it so relentlessly) . “And I know that there’s still hope for me, when I see myself in these streets.”

Hold It Down – These songs are going by too quickly to construct much in the way of opinions about. That’s a good thing. This one is a real pit-kicker, guaranteed to get shoulders slamming into things. I mean that in a good way. This rocks, sure, though I’m not sure if that’s a verb they would identify by. That’s something you say about Lynrd Skynrd, you know? Do punks want that kind of association? This music slams. Is that better? I don’t know. Maybe not. This one is going on a lot longer, so far. 100% longer than the last song, I think. At least. I feel anxious, like I am waiting for the other shoe to —

Fall This Time – — drop. There we go. Okay, this song mixes it up a little. It’s a bit slower. More of a traditional hard rock beat. This kind of sounds like a Danzig song except with the “Evil” knob turned from “Masturbating in a graveyard” to “Posting those secret nude pictures of your girlfriend on the internet because she broke up with you after the Black Dahlia Murder concert.” This song is another 100% longer than the one before it. At this rate, these are gonna be some epic songs coming up. Oh, a breakdown. I will say, these guys have me on their side. This is only the first time hearing this, though, and I imagine my 2nd and further subsequent listens might change my opinion. Fuck, this album is 14 tracks long.

Everyday Hate – One minute long. This is a real rollercoaster. This song couldn’t be more than a minute long, though. Fast punk. Metal guitars. Usual combination. At the :40 mark it sounds as if the song has run out of steam. Then this outro, damn, actually sounds like running out of steam. Or seething. More seething.

Done… – I don’t mean to be a dick here but this sounds like a Sevendust song so far. And it’s continuing to. The vocals are different, they’re harsh screams rather than his black Elvis singing. This one’s slower and chugs along. Here’s a bass guitar breakdown, that’s cool. Giving him some time in the spotlight. Bam, it kicks back up. Banging my head. Trying my best.

Say What? – High-BPM drumming, go. Guitars seething over it, go. Slam on the breaks for one of the guitars to play the verse chords all by itself to emphasize how big their dual-guitar attack actually is by way of contrast, go. These vocals are surprisingly intelligible. Kinda refreshing. Yet another track imploring the listener to consider who is actually hardcore. This is a popular subject for these guys and other hardcore bands.

D.I.F.M.M. – “This one goes out to all the kids, by keeping it real, by turning their backs on hardcore bands who make any money…” — they actually put in a slide whistle here. They’re being funny — “…Sure I live with my mom right now, but I’d live on the streets if I had to… and I know, in my heart, that one day I’m gonna graduate from college, get a real job, and forget all of this…”

Show No Fear – We’re in for a long one — 2:40 long. Settling in. Slow set-up. Things are building. Oh yeah, heavy. Slamming home. Holy shit, 681 words. This is a lot easier than my usual posts. Gonna skip writing anything about this song so this doesn’t get unpleasantly long.

Never Look Back – Bam, up goes the tempo again. Super fast. Puuuunk. Vocals switch into this weird talk-scream that is very fluid and overshoots rhythmic patterns. Breakdown. Abrupt cessure.

Still Searching – Pretty much the same as every other track so far. I’m curious how fans of stuff like this judge the music. Like what would be their favorite song on here? And what would their criteria be?

Confessions – When I was really into metal I thought punk/hardcore were boring, so I know it’s not just a matter of not being able to identify with the necessary emotional states or points of view, because I definitely used to. Oh man, this song had the most jarring breakdown transition so far. I’m too trained by mid-00s breakdown-based hardcore, I keep expecting one of those kind of breakdowns when these guys build up and it’s always just…

Thinking to Myself – Again, the guitar chords sustaining over the fast drums. “Shit’s about to go down,” their instruments are saying. This stuff might be fun live, but good god is it boring to just sit and listen to. Okay, now this is kind of turning into a rap song. Record noise and intentionally cheesy rapping. Just some jokes.

Semper Fi – I saw some girl on the bus in a Black Dahlia Murder shirt, with jet-black hair and all sorts of piercings. Her headphones were bleeding sound like crazy and her music was just cranked, and I could hear it clearly. She was bobbing her head intensely and hand-drumming along on her knees. She looked very intense. I dunno if she had just been in a fight or something.