FREDDY MADBALL’S TOP TEN FAVORITE HARD AND HEAVY NON-HARDCORE BANDS — DAY THREE

To celebrate the release of Madball’s latest aggro masterpiece, Empire (two new songs streaming here!), we asked vocalist Freddy “Madball” Cricien to compile a list of his favorite non-hardcore (but still heavy!) bands. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running two entries a day from Freddy’s list every day for the next five days, leading up to Empire‘s October 12 release. You can read Freddy’s initial installment here and his second entry here; to follow, enjoy day three of the countdown…

6) SLAYER

I got into slayer later than most probably. Like I said, my background wasn’t in metal. For me, when it comes to heavy music, it was H.C. and then I got into other heavy stuff via friends, etc. You have to give Slayer props. They are as hard as they come, have crazy longevity, are super influential, and keep it real with their style/sound. They are classic. What more needs to be said?! FYI — they are one of Hoya Roc’s favorite bands!

5) HATEBREED

Some people are probably like, “I thought there were no H.C .bands on this list?!” Well, in my opinion, Hatebreed are just their own thing. Can’t really classify them as a hardcore band. Not saying they don’t have roots in H.C. — of course they do! But they crossed a few different boundaries that put them in a different category. I remember thinking early on, when they were opening for MB on one of our tours (circa ’98), that they had “something.” I knew they were going to do well and be big. I was not surprised when it happened. Good friends, great band, I wish them continued success!

-Freddy Madball

Empire comes out October 12 on Good Fight. Visit Madball on MySpace to hear samples and get tour dates and all the latest news from the band.