Ill Niño
Engima
Cement Shoes
Ill Niño’s fourth release, Enigma, plays like a screamo band covering Soulfly. As on previous efforts, vocalist Christian Machado shifts from guttural screams to a P.O.D. melodic singing style. The Latino flavored metal achieves success when Machado rips up his throat, as on the album’s strongest track “Compulsion of Virus and Fever,” but this impassioned delivery often softens too quickly, giving way to Alternative Press-approved, emotionally-driven singing.
“Finger Painting (With the Enemy)” is the most accessible track on the album. While most of the remaining songs have only short moments of excellence, this Nine Inch Nails sounding composition stands apart as being great all the way through.
Closing out this dysfunctional album is a slow salsa called “De Sangre Hermosa.” The song is so nakedly traditional, and without any hints of the band’s otherwise aggressive air, that it could either be considered the worst thing they’ve ever written, or a transitional song that begs for the band to do more songs like it.
Ill Niño: http://www.illnino.com
