Ill Nino is a New Jersey-based six-piece that attempts to combine nu metal sounds with some rhythms and instrumentation pulled from its members' Latin heritages. The band was founded in 1998 and released an EP's worth of material soon after under the group's original name, El Nino. After a couple of personnel changes and knowledge of another band with the same name, the group fortified its lineup and transitioned to Ill Nino in 1999. While it might not have experienced the popularity that Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach and other nu metal groups garnered in the late 1990s, Ill Nino plays pretty much the same cards as the aforementioned bands. Melodic, thrash and speed metal guitars are slicked over with a glossy polish that would fit right in on modern hard rock radio, while lead singer Cristian Machado screams his lyrics in both English and Spanish. The band's fifth studio album, Dead New World, was released in 2010.
