Ill Niño

Ill Nino, the New Jersey-based sextet devoted to Latin metal, comprises Cristian Machado on vocals, Dave Chavarri on drums, Marc Rizzo and Jardel Paisante on guitars, Lazaro Pina on bass, and Roger Vasquez on percussion. Because most of its members trace their lineage to South America, the music fuses crunchy heavy metal with Latin rhythms and lyrics that move fluidly between English and Spanish. The project originated while former Pro Pain member Chavarri was serving as an interim player on tour with Max Cavalerra’s Soulfly; once that engagement ended and he returned home, he immediately reached out to friends Rizzo and Machado to launch an original band, stating that “the idea is to be as heavy as possible and as melodic as possible -- with a Latin twist,” after which the remaining musicians came aboard shortly. Early visibility arrived through regular rotation on New York’s metal college station WSOU, followed by intensive live activity that included opening slots for Kittie, Soulfly, and Snapcase as well as a co-headlining appearance at the March Metal Meltdown festival in New Jersey. Roadrunner Records soon signed the group, which delivered its debut album Revolution/Revolucion in July of 2001. Two years of touring in support of that release preceded the 2003 arrival of Confession, after which the live DVD Live from the Eye of the Storm appeared the following year and One Nation Underground landed in 2005.