"Empire will play off of the name," points vocalist Freddy Cricien. "Madball has come a long way from being street kids to becoming very established in our genre, and even beyond the music. We're finally at a point in our life where we're taking control of our things, where as before we didn't have control of some things or didn't choose to have control. We have the feeling that we've built a little empire for ourselves with our band, brand, and different endeavors."

We get this reference that we're kings of New York..." adds Cricien. "There are plenty of awesome bands that have come out of the city. Agnostic Front are the godfathers of New York hardcore, Sick Of it All are one of the undisputed champs of the scene... we were always known as more of the bad guys, but now people are calling us the kings. It's not a title we gave ourselves and it's not that we call ourselves that, but it's just a term of endearment and respect that people use and it plays into the name Empire.

Madball are currently finishing the writing process, and will enter Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida to record in July. Behind the boards on Empire will be seasoned producer Eric Rutan (Misery Index, Cannibal Corpse, Goatwhore). "I think [having Eric] is a good dynamic," states vocalist Freddy Cricien. "We did the last couple records with a different producer, he was busy, so we were looking for an alternative and his name was suggested. I got to talking to him and I found out he has a hardcore background, and he's a big fan of ours. I was really sold at that point because although he does a lot of death metal, he's really eager to approach this in a certain way.

Freddy is also looking forward to utilizing Eric's rich history in production with metal artists, and his fresh outlook on producing Empire. "He's going to use bigger production, and I like that, but he's not going to approach it like a Cannibal Corpse record because the vibe is different, and sometimes that dynamic works. He's a guy that's used to working with different things but he knows how we want our stuff approached. Eric wants to make a statement with doing a MADBALL record because he's so into the death metal background. I'm really psyched about it, really excited. If he was totally oblivious to who we were and what hardcore music was, I'd be skeptical. But that's not the case at all. He's more diverse than his resume shows, at least from speaking with him personally. He's a solid engineer and he has the ear."

The members of Madball are icons in the underground and that underground now spills forth into the streets. Since forming in 1988, Madball has been responsible for some of the most important releases in the genre, from the seminal Ball of Destruction EP (1989) to the landmark albums Set It Off (1994), Demonstrating My Style (1996), Look My Way (1998), Hold it Down (2000), Legacy (2005), and their latest release, Infiltrate the System (2007).