Ill Niño
Dead New World

Two years after their last work, Ill Nino return with "Dead New World," thus leaving behind a series of problems that arose before and during the release of the last official album, which threatened to compromise the career of the band of South American origin. For those unfamiliar with the group, the formation led by the eccentric Brazilian Christian Machado, is one of the most interesting Latin Metal entities. The previous album "Enigma," which brought about a radical change by breaking away from the Metalcore stereotype the band was associated with in the early years, led to repercussions and negative sales as well as issues with the previous record label, now replaced by Victory Records, with whom they produced this album.

The formula remains unchanged, opening tracks "God is For The Dead" and "The Art Of War" skillfully blend Danny Couto's percussion with Christian Machado's 'growl,' all mixed with Nu Metal, which despite not experiencing its golden age (a trend now faded), remains a reference point for the group.
Excellent is the first single "Against The Wall" whose vocal bases and not particularly aggressive guitars respectively recall Corey Taylor and his experience in Stone Sour.
After "Mi Revolucion," a not particularly brilliant Metalcore episode, the first 'Latin' track of the album is "Bleed Like You", as already mentioned at the beginning, the group's intention was to steer away from the monotony that can be brought by the exclusive interpretation of Metalcore, seasoning the albums with softer tracks with a more melodic mold thanks to the use of percussion and accompanying guitars.
However, I cannot deny that as the album progresses, what is evident is that the quality level is lower compared to albums like "Confession" and the already mentioned "Enigma," the latter despite the little success achieved on the market, remains perhaps the pinnacle of the American band's career (formed in New Jersey, but of South American blood), as well as one of the most interesting albums of recent years.
However, the album still has much to say, indeed the melodic "Ritual" is excellent where percussions almost overpower the guitars of the Rizzo/Paisante duo (the former ex-Soulfly), even better, I would say exceptional is the next "Killing You, Killing Me" a pure Metalcore track sung entirely in growl by an excellent C. Machado, with a nice ending of Latin rock contamination fused into metal.

The album also offers us a cover, "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" by the Smashing Pumpkins in Metal version does not disappoint, nor does "Scarred", the closing track, unlike "De Sangre Hermosa," the final track of the previous album, it does not reserve a Bachata finale, this time the Metalcore nature of the band persists incessantly.

In essence, it can be said that "Dead New World" is a partial return to metal, with a sound certainly not comparable to the hard-hitting debut album "Revolution/Revolucion," but an interesting album for almost anyone, given the heterogeneity that the group is now able to offer.

Ill Nino are an entity that, in a period like this not particularly rosy for metal, should be taken much more into consideration, a band that with now five albums behind them, has a precise identity of its own.