Ill Nino shook the numetal world with their debut album Revolution Revolution some years ago. The band managed to take the tired structure of numetal to a new level of intensity with their Latin influences. The band itself lands somewhere in the vein of Sepultura and Soulfly, but boasts a more accessible, melodic sound. Cristian (Vocals) summed up the band perfectly in an old interview – “our music tries to be as heavy as possible and as melodic as possible - with a Latin twist."

I remember years back reading a prediction that Ill Nino would soon be a force for Max Calvalera and his Soulfly associates to reckon with. And indeed that prediction has proved to be rather accurate. What Ill Nino lacks in brutality, it makes up for in melody. The band have set off in a conscious effort to evolve their sound and refine the somewhat disjointed sound of their first album. Gone now are the cluttered tribal drums overlaid on top of a standard drumbeat, the desultory song structures – and thankfully - sampling itself is kept to a bare minimum.

Ill Nino are no longer debuting numetal darlings lost in the ultra-competitive, saturated metal scene. Confessions represents an Ill Nino hardened by the last two years on the road, boasting a complete perfection of their definable sound. No longer will Ill Nino be remembered as the poor man’s Soulfly. (For fans of the first album, the album is more in the direction of Unreal than any other track off Revolution.)

The album kicks of with Te Amo… I Hate You, a tasteful yet violent numetal romp, obeying Ill Nino’s predictable brutal – melodic – brutal structure. All in all a solid track worthy of praise. Two (Vaya Con Dios) similarly acts as a likeable addition to the modern metal scene. 

The first single off the album How Can I Live promises to be a massive hit. The track itself has already launched itself off the Jason Vs. Freddy soundtrack. An apt representation of how Ill Nino has evolved. Ironically, every track on the album has the same, smooth melodic hooks and choleric heaviness and hence, every track is a potential single in itself. 

Its hard to differentiate the tracks from the album as the music is so consistently solid, yet uniformly stylistic. Ill Nino has created a distinctive differentiated style, no longer is the band content to be dubbed “another faceless numetal band.”

The one thing which the album lacks is sine qua non lyrical content. While the vocal style of Cristian Machado outlasts the disposable clones of the popular numetal scene, his songwriting ability is somewhat lacking; “I thought that we were friends / but I can say we’re not”. This (at times) frustrating flaw was mirrored in the bands first album.

Bombastic journalist criticisms aside, Ill Nino have created an extremely solid numetal release in Confessions. Any supporter of the modern popular metal scene should do themselves a favour and check the album out. In the phantasmagoric numetal arena, Ill Nino stands clearly above all challengers, having successfully created an extremely unique and palatable forty-five-odd-minute release. 

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