LIONS AT THE GATE Feat. Former ILL NIÑO Members: Go Behind The Scenes Of Making Of Debut Album

July 26, 2021

Former ILL NIÑO members Cristian Machado (vocals),Ahrue "Luster" Ilustre (guitar) and Diego Verduzco (guitar) recently launched a new band called LIONS AT THE GATE. The group's lineup is completed by bassist Stephen Brewer (WESTFIELD MASSACRE) and drummer Fern Lemus.

Tentatively due later in the year, LIONS AT THE GATE's debut album was produced by FAILURE ANTHEM's Kile Odell, who has previously worked with FOZZY and MOTIONLESS IN WHITE.

The first four webisodes featuring behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the first LIONS AT THE GATE LP can be seen below.

When LIONS AT THE GATE's formation was first announced in early June, Machado said: "I feel so blessed to be in LIONS AT THE GATE. We've all been making albums for a long time but I think it was time for us to make something special and memorable again. This album is exactly that. Take away our musical history, take away our long hair, take away our personal feelings, just make believe we were never there. This LIONS AT THE GATE album is amazing. We finally made a modern metal album that metalheads will enjoy beginning to end. It's deep, it's memorable, I can't wait for everyone to hear it, I can't wait for everyone to hear the featured female artist on one of the songs."

Verduzco added: "I'm beyond proud and excited to announce our new band LIONS AT THE GATE. Life is all about change and I feel that this music is the most dynamic and honest that we've ever written. I feel a sense of freedom and am completely reinvigorated and even anxious (in a good way) to be a part of something that pulls influence from so many directions . Each member brings a unique set of talent and tools. It's quite frankly some of the best music we've ever written. Organic, honest, and true."

Luster stated: "I'm more excited about LIONS AT THE GATE than anything that I've been a part of since I started my musical career."

Luster discussed his renewed collaboration with Machado and Verduzco in a recent interview with Pierre Gutierrez of Rock Talks. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can't even explain how happy I am with how this came out. It sounds, in my opinion, better than anything that Cristian and I have ever done together, and that includes all the ILL NIÑO records that we've done together."

Asked about the musical direction of LIONS AT THE GATE, Ahrue said: "It's a very polished sound, similar to… I don't wanna say it sounds like [ILL NIÑO's 2003 album] 'Confession', but there's a lot of singing on it, there's a lot of production. But at the same time, there's heaviness to it. But the songs are better than anything we've written. And the crazy thing was the process of writing 'em was way easier than it has ever been for us. Usually an ILL NIÑO record would take us three to six months to finish. We finished this record in 20 days, and we believe it sounds better than anything we've ever done in the past."

Speaking about LIONS AT THE GATE's collaboration with Odell, Ahrue said: "He's worked with BAD WOLVES. I think he may have co-wrote with them. But he has a huge resume, and he's had, like, five Number One hits last year. And he was amazing to work with. I've worked with Ross Robinson, I've worked with Johnny K, I've worked with Terry Date, as a mixer, and I've worked with some other big names in the industry that have all had platinum records, and I'll say, hands down, Kile Odell is amazing. I would say, second to [MACHINE HEAD's] 'The Burning Red', it was an amazing experience. It was a different way. As far as Ross Robinson was really into the emotion and getting the emotion out of the players and the music, Odell is very musical and he's really able to help with the songs, and he has a great ear and a great vision."

The official music LIONS AT THE GATE's debut single, "Not Even Human", can be seen below.

Find more on Ill nino
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).