CRIMINAL: New Demo Song Posted Online

Anglo-Chilean thrash masters CRIMINAL have posted a new demo song entitled "The Infidel" on their MySpace page.

Vocalist/guitarist Anton Reisenegger states: "[The track is] about — you probably guessed it — religious dogmas and intolerance, and the right to stand up for the fact that THERE IS NO GOD. Musically speaking, it's pretty straight-forward thrash/death with some obvious SLAYER influences, but I feel it has enough of our own ideas to make it really original and 100% CRIMINAL!"

CRIMINAL will enter the studio this weekend to begin recording its sixth studio album for a March 2009 release via Germany's Massacre Records. The follow-up to 2005's "Sicario" will be released in a limited-edition package including a bonus DVD. Anton says, "Since we're not doing it in a commercial studio, but at Danny's [Biggin, bass] home studio instead, we're going to take a bit more time for the recording than we spent on the last couple albums, which will hopefully allow us to be more creative and put some more color and fresh ideas in there."

Regarding the direction of the new songs, Reisenegger says, "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

CRIMINAL recently uploaded a brand new EPK (Electronic Press Kit) to its YouTube channel. Directed by Roberto Fuentes, the video features live footage from the band's December 2007 performance at Teatro Novedades in Santiago de Chile, as well as an interview with frontman Anton Reisenegger. Watch the EPK below.