To celebrate the release of Madball’s latest aggro masterpiece, Empire, 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. To follow, pelase find the first installment. We hope you enjoy…

10) LED ZEPPELIN

I wasn’t sure at first if I should put them on this list. They could be considered more rock than anything, and that would open up a whole other door of bands I love. But you know what? They’re heavy, so I’m going to throw them on my list. I grew up listening to my older brother Rudy’s Led Zeppelin records… along with a bunch of other eclectic stuff. I always loved Zeppelin. Great songs, unique sounding band, and the heavy-ness and groove of John Bonham’s drums was just amazing.

9) LIFE OF AGONY

We used to be label mates when River Runs Red came out. We played many shows together and it was always a good time. Nice guys, and whether people agree with me or not, I think they put out a classic record. They were original, heavy, and melodic in a good way. Respect to those guys… I still rock that record!

-Freddy Madball

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