It has been two years since the last time I got to review a performance of this band in the Effenaar. Since then the band has released their sixth album called Epidemia. Of course the band couldn’t tour through Europe without playing here in Eindhoven, as it seems to be some sort of fixed rule. Because the Effenaar decided to add two extra supports on the day itself, Ill Niño wouldn’t only be supported by Ektomorf, but also by Fhobi and Devastating Enemy.

As stated before, the website of the Effenaar was updated about six hours before the show began to inform the public that two extra support acts were added to the line-up. Therefore I expected the first band to begin at 20:15 instead of 19:40. When I walked in I could just hear the last song by Fhobi. That was more than enough for me, because this isn’t a band I particularly like.

Quickly after the first band it was time for Devastating Enemy from Austria, a big surprise this evening. I had never heard of this band, but because they started off without any intro it was very energetic from the start. The drummer was a wild beast, drumsticks were flying around and he kept head banging the entire time. This band got some people in the crowd jumping and singing/screaming with them, but there was no real movement. This is quite sad, because in my opinion they did deserve a lot of movement and enthusiasm. The whole band was full of energy, but the guitarist/vocalist was so active it was almost abnormal. They played for about 35 minutes, but the time flew by and some people thought they left far too early. This is definitely a band we should hear much more from.

Now it was time for the support that everybody knew about long before this show: Ektomorf. These Hungarians are heavily influenced by bands like Sepultura and Soulfly, which is probably the reason they were once asked to play with them on stage. The band began their set quite well and were playing very tightly. Nevertheless they became quite boring after about fifteen minutes. It still was very tight and it wasn’t unpleasant to hear, but their whole set seemed like one endless song. Not what I really expected, but the timing was great to go outside to get some fresh air before killing it with the headliner of the evening.

When Ill Niño came on the stage they kicked off with the song “If You Still Hate Me”. It is a very good song, but it’s from their first album and they play it every single show. This would be consistent during this evening; Ill Niño doing what they always do. In total they played 15 songs, but it’s a shame that only two songs of the new record were performed. This new record is a little heavier than the others and was the main reason for many people to come to this show. Of course it was great to hear songs like“This Is War” and “I Am Loco”, but it was still a pity. Nevertheless the crowd went crazy and of course the Chocomel cartons were thrown on stage. After hearing the two new songs, which were “Eva” and of course “La Epidemia”, we managed to hear the intro of “When It Cuts” before we unfortunately had to leave to catch the last train home. My advice for the Effenaar is to cut some of the supports the next time, because we had to miss almost half the set. For Ill Niño just one note: keep going this way but please play new songs as well. The old songs are great but everyone is dying to hear some more recent songs live!

Despite the lack of new songs I would recommend anyone to see Ill Niño when they get the opportunity. Keep an eye out for Devastating Enemy as well! They deserve the support.