ILL NIÑO : 25 YEARS OF LATIN METAL US TOUR 2024 with FLAW - A KILLER'S CONFESSION - THE CROWNED - NEBULA X

When the 25 years of Latin Metal Tour was announced to play at one of the newest venues in Vegas, SINWAVE, I was pretty excited. The majority of the bands on this bill I have not seen since 2018 when they played at the now defunct Beauty Bar, and I was looking forward to seeing them all back on a live stage in Vegas! ILL NIÑO brought a heavy lineup for the tour, and the new club was packed to see the show.

Vegas locals NEBULA X kicked off the show, a band that despite all the transitions and turmoil with changing lineups they still sound fierce and tight. They were a great choice to open the show, they play Latin songs during their set, besides classic metal by bands like Prong. They performed as a trio - one of their guitarists is taking some time away from the band - and was still a tremendous set. Check out more from Nebula X HERE.

THE CROWNED is a Texas based self described 'smut metal' band, fronted by drummer Marc Coronado, and have been around now for 11 years and show no signs of slowing down. Heavy heavy stuff here, an opened up the first mosh pit of the night. The band have rerelease their single "Creed" as well as new "I Don't Care" and "Verity" this year, check out their YouTube HERE.

I was really looking forward to seeing A KILLER'S CONFESSION return to Vegas, the only other time I had seen them live was again back in 2018. Since there were 5 bands on this show, all the bands' sets were pretty short, but A Killer's Confession did manage to toss in a couple of unreleased songs into their show.

The band wore horror themed masks, red jumpsuits with 'Save A Kid, Kill A Pedophile' on the back of each - they really put in a visual show for the fans. Vocalist Waylon Reavis and the boys put on a killer show.

Next up was the band FLAW, and things took a turn for the worse for a bit. No reflection on the band though they were on fire , but during Flaws' set the pit got pretty intense, and soon it became evident a fan was down on the floor and not moving. Vocalist Chris Volz, noticed and stopped the band, as security quickly attended to the down concert goer. When it became apparent this was serious, Chris announced that the band was cutting their set short and for everyone to please clear out to give room for those helping the injured guy on the ground, and he quickly came off stage and went to check on the downed fan personally. Security cleared all fans from the venue to give room for paramedics to attend to the fallen guy. Even though Flaws show was very short, they had a great one, and they did the right thing and put the fans first.

After all the chaos subsided, things got back to normal and the fans returned to the venue looking forward to ILL NIÑO. This band who had a pretty rough public split a few years ago, but I can honestly say the 2024 version of ILL NINO is solid, tight and as good as ever. This was the first time I have seen them with singer Marcos Leal, who I have previously seen with Shattered Sun, and he

absolutely killed it and is an amazing fit, and one of my favorite guitarists, Marc Rizzo, is a beast with ILL NIÑO. The band is touring with 7 members; 3 percussionists, a bass player, 2 guitarists, and Marcos on vocals, it's a full stage! This band is hard, heavy and Latin nu metal. The pit was back in full swing and it was surprising the walls didn't come down, ILL NIÑO was kicking so hard and the crowd was a mass of moving bodies.

ILL NIÑO have been teasing a new album the last couple years, and have announced a new elease in 2024 of not one but two EPs - IllMortals Volume 1 (with cuts featuring AJ Channer and Sonny Sandoval) set for release in June, while IllMortals Volume 2 will follow in July if things go as planned. Several songs have been released including "Numb" and "Beast Inside" and have a new video preview of the new music. Check it out, and you can pre-save the new EPs HERE.

It's hard to believe we have had 25 years of ILL NIÑO, and the way this band sounds, we look forward to 25 more. The 25 anniversary tour just started with Vegas, and they will be our kicking it on the road in the US through July, before heading to Europe for the fall. Tour date info HERE

ILL NIÑO PHOTOS Harold Mountain / JustAFanPhotos