New York hardcore has always been an entirely different animal to the hardcore punk music that emerged from other cities. It’s practically a different genre — the likes of Agnostic Front and Sick of it All have very little in common with D.C. bands such as Minor Threat or certainly SoCal bands like Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. Madball are very much of the NYHC school, starting life as an Agnostic Front side project. There’s no Roger Miret or Vinnie Stigma in the ranks these days, but Miret’s brother Freddy Cricien still fronts the band. They put out their ninth studio album, For the Cause, in 2018 and, as one might expect, it’s brutally hard and to-the-point. Their L.A. return is welcome.

Madball play with Death Before Dishonor at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 27 at 1720.

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