CRIMINAL Frontman Issues Post-Chilean Tour Update

Anglo-Chilean thrash masters CRIMINAL completed a short tour of Chile last month in support of their upcoming album, "White Hell", which will be released on February 27 via Massacre Records.

Commented CRIMINAL guitarist/singer Anton Reisenegger: "[The tour] started off with our appearance at the Cumbre del Rock Chileno festival (Summit of Chilean Rock),but I almost didn't make it in time! On the day I was supposed to travel, the Madrid airport was closed down due to snow and all flights were cancelled. I was travelling from San Sebastián in Northern Spain, so I just had to go back home and wait for the next day. I flew into Madrid on Saturday and it was utter chaos there. Hour-long queues for the customer service desks, pissed-off travellers everywhere, and riot police wandering around just so no one would get any crazy ideas. A pretty tense situation, I tell you. In the evening, around the time my flight was due to depart, I still didn't know if I actually had a seat or not. Meanwhile, the other guys, who had travelled from London and were already in Santiago, were deliberating on what to do. There was even talk of playing the gig with several guest singers, which I would have paid to see myself! Anyway, we didn't reach that point as I was allowed to embark and arrived in Santiago on the day of the show.

"The gig itself was awesome, despite some minor glitches which I attribute to the heat and the jet-lag (and the beer!). People had been standing in the sun for the whole day, but we were able to raise their energy level again and it was a fucking blast. We should be able to post some video footage of the show pretty soon.

"Kudos also to the organization, as it all ran really smoothly. Nice atmosphere, loads of old and new friends, couldn't have been better.

"The rest of the tour was a bit of a hit-and-miss affair, as always in Chile when you tour secondary markets, but the fans more than made up for it with their crazy behaviour during the shows. We even premiered a track off the new album, '21st Century Paranoia', and while the moshing stopped as people tried to actually listen to it, I feel it went down really well and is probably bound to be in our setlist for a long, long time.

"So now we're back in Europe, gearing up for the album release. Our new friend Fran [Muñoz] has already finished the artwork and it looks awesome. We didn't really have to tell him what to do, he just kept coming up with cool stuff, so it was quite a relaxed process, despite the tight deadline we were on. He truly is a master of the Photoshop!

"Promos have already gone out to the press, and the comments on the album have been great so far. Not many reviews have come in yet, but we were already told 'White Hell' landed on #5 of the monthly writers' chart in the German Rock Hard magazine, which is amazing! We're really looking forward to all of you being able to hear it, as we think it is our best piece of work ever. And I know everybody says this, but, the more I listen to the album, the more I like it!"

"White Hell" track listing:

01. 21st Century Paranoia
02. Crime and Punishment
03. Incubus
04. Black Light
05. The Deluge
06. Strange Ways
07. Mobrule
08. The Infidel
09. Invasion
10. Eyes of Temptation
11. Bastardom
12. Sons of Cain

In Europe the album will be released in a limited edition including a bonus DVD, the contents of which will be announced shortly, while the South American version of the album will contain the bonus track "Hermanos Dementes".

Regarding the direction of the new songs, Anton Reisenegger previously said, "the material for the record is incredibly varied, ranging from really technical stuff with odd time signatures, to crushing groove monsters, to all-out death metal and everything in between, so be prepared for one hell of a rollercoaster ride!"

Formed in the early '90s in Santiago, Chile by ex-PENTAGRAM mastermind Reisenegger and guitar virtuoso Rodrigo Contreras, CRIMINAL were combining elements of thrash, hardcore and death metal long before the term "metalcore" was even thought of. The band enjoyed a meteoric rise to the forefront of the South American metal scene, including five-digit album sales, shows with the likes of KREATOR, SEPULTURA and SLAYER and a nomination for Best Rock Video at the MTV Latino Video Music Awards, but was faced with severe personal and business problems around the turn of the decade. Reisenegger and Contreras then decided to relocate to the UK, regrouping in a half-Chilean, half-British lineup. Since then, the band has played on major European festivals such as Wacken Open Air and Summer Breeze, as well as support shows with bands such as CHIMAIRA, SIX FEET UNDER, BRUJERIA and LAMB OF GOD.

CRIMINAL's latest studio offering, "Sicario", was hailed by the press as one of the finest thrash metal releases of 2005 and was voted into the Top Ten Albums of the Year by the readers of Terrorizer magazine. At the same time, the band's status in their home country remains unbroken, as evidenced by a four-page feature in the Chilean edition of Rolling Stone magazine and a recent show supporting MEGADETH in front of over 14,000 metalheads.

CRIMINAL is:

Anton Reisenegger – vocals, guitar
Rodrigo Contreras – lead guitar
Zac O'Neil – drums
Dan Biggin – bass