Since it had already been a while I went to a concert, I figured visiting an Ill Niño show would be a nice night out. Together with Zmok I went to Haarlem, Patronaat to witness a show in what turned out to be the smallest venue ever, well as far as I’m concerned. Putting this band, together with MagnaCult in such a small hall is a really weird decision in my opinion but hey, what could be done about it?! Nothin’! So off the stairs we went to witness some nice action on stage.

MagnaCult
First band up was MagnaCult, with in its ranks bassist Spit of that other very nice Dutch metal band Demia. I was really curious how this other band of his would do live and so I’m glad I can tell you right now that it rocked hard!
Even though I didn’t know any material of this band yet I enjoyed myself very much during their short but powerful show. Their music is something quite new in the Dutch metalscene containing some badass complex rhythms, technical drumming and a very enthusiastic vocalist and bassist. Especially these two guys seemed to enjoy the show to the fullest. A small pity that the other guys in the band stood on stage a bit static but hopefully it’s just a matter of time before the other three will also participate in the interaction with the crowd.
Furthermore I’d like to highlight the skills of the drummer once more, since he did a very nice job on that! His rhythms give the songs that extra they need to become special, to stand out from other, more standard songs. Only negative thing about those complex rhythms is that they’re sometimes hard to bang your head to but then again, that can also be considered a compliment. I had a nice time watching these guys and I hope they’ll be appreciated by the bigger crowds during their shows in the future.
As for the album, I bought it at their show but the CD wasn’t in the showcase so I can’t tell you – yet – what I think about it but I’m sure I’ll listen to it more often. In my opinion MagnaCult has proven itself to be a more than worthy opener for a band such as Ill Niño. [Review by BoEk]

The setlist:
Damnation
Identity 676
Inside Will Guide
Line Of Attack
Aeon
Kill Ignorant Humanity
Trash [working title]

Ill Niño
After MagnaCult it was time for headliner Ill Niño. In a way too small venue these guys started the show. Ill Niño immediately started playing a lot of songs from their first album, Revolution/Revolución. No wonder, these were the songs that were best received this evening and let’s just state that the crowd wasn’t too hard to impress at all and would follow every order given. Ill Niño had a diverse setlist with some songs from pretty much all the released albums. Therefore it was a pity that they only played three songs from the new album Enigma. ‘Finger Painting (With The Enemy)’ was one of the new songs that got a good reaction from the crowd. But while playing these new songs it became clear that not everybody had this album yet.
A downside on this evening was that Cristian’s clean vocals were not easy to listen to, not because of his voice, but it just seemed like his mic wasn’t tuned very well.

Still, Ill Niño gave a great show, these guys just love to play and have some fun with the crowd. Drinking and smoking on stage is a common thing for these guys. [Review by Zmok]