El Sistema by Zion and Lennox – New Album Review

One of the most legendary duos in reggaeton, Zion and Lennox, are back with their latest album El Sistema. This is the duo’s first album together in 5 years (Motivan2). The album helps to celebrate the 20 years of the duo’s career and life in the reggaeton business.

From a bird’s eye view, this album is a bit of a surprise. Zion and Lennox have been around for decades. I wasn’t expecting any new releases from them. The composition of the album is pure reggaeton in their usual style. There are some good features on the project as well.

The songs that really hit for me on this album are “Enchuletiao”, “Diosa”, and “Te Mueves”. Any of these songs could find their way onto the radio or your summer playlist or anything like that. “Te Mueves” with Natti Natasha has been getting some good play lately and I hope this only accelerates that. “Diosa” may end up being the best new song on the album.

I do also have to give credit to the intro which does a fantastic job recapping the biggest hits from the duo over the years. Unfortunately, I don’t know if there are any tracks from this album that would make that highlight reel, despite the solid quality.

As with any album there are songs that didn’t hit for me. “Perla” and “Gota Gota” really miss the mark in my opinion. What I found to be disappointing throughout the album was Lennox’s performance. His gravely voice usually adds a great texture to songs but I felt he sound strained on this project. There were some instances where I thought his weak verses would take the whole song down. It’s really a shame.

Final Verdict

While I generally enjoy the album, it’s pretty obvious that there isn’t a hit on this project that can match the massive hits Zion and Lennox were putting out just a few years ago. While there are undoubtedly some very good tracks, I can’t really pick out any track or two that would make this one of the best albums of the year or their career. That being said, there is still plenty of quality to be found here and some good tracks to enjoy.

7.1/10

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