Criminal is a Chilean thrash/death metal band formed in late 1991 in Santiago by Anton Reisenegger (guitar and vocals) and Rodrigo Contreras (lead guitar).[1] Later they were joined by J.J. Vallejo on drums and Juan Francisco Cueto as bassist, completing the original lineup. The band incorporates elements of thrash metal, death metal, groove metal and hardcore. They later moved to Colchester, England.
The band received international attention with their second studio album, Dead Soul, released in 1997. Their next release, Sicario, established them as a known band in Europe and received good reviews.
Criminal have released eight studio albums, two live albums, and two demos.
History
In late 1991, Reisenegger Anton joined Rodrigo Contreras to start a new thrash metal band: Criminal. Anton was already known in the local underground scene, and had received recognition by bands like Napalm Death and Dismember. The latter band had played with Rodrigo Contreras before.
Their debut show was in April 1992, opening for Kreator. That same year they released two demos that got wide distribution in the local scene. Their second demo, Forked received good reviews by international heavy metal magazines like Metal Hammer in Holanda.
In 1994, they recorded their first album, Victimized, independently and sold 1000 copies in three weeks of its release. The album got the attention of the major BMG label. The album was distributed in countries like Mexico, Argentina and Japan. The videos of Self Destruction and Disorder were frequently broadcast on MTV Latin America on the Head Bangers show, rapidly gaining reputation internationally. After that they made their first appearance outside their country, in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo. In 1995, they played at the Festival of Latin American Metal in Guadalajara, Mexico. After this show J.J. Vallejo was replaced by Jimmy Ponce, drummer of Slavery.
In 1996, the group opened shows for Bruce Dickinson and Motörhead, also releasing the EP Live Disorder.
In 1997, they released Dead Soul, which is held in high regard by fans and critics alike. The album was released in the United States and Europe. They collaborated with Exodus and Napalm Death for the release-show of the album.
In late 1998, they released the compilation album Live Slave Master which has both studio and live performances, and the demo songs from Forked.
In early 2000, Reisenegger and Contreras began producing the third album, Cancer. The album was heavily criticized by fans as they had a shift in their music style, the album being labeled as a commercial record and far from the aggressive style of their early albums. However, the album was well received in Europe.
The 2001, Reisenegger moved to England and met the lead singer of Extreme Noise Terror, which he would join as a guitarist for their tour the following year. It was here that here would get to know a member of that band, Zac O'Neil (drums), who would lead him to undertake other musical directions. Anton showed him Criminal material to convince the drummer to continue the project. Zac already had planned to form a band with bassist Robin Eaglestone (ex Cradle of Filth) and keyboardist Mark Royce (from Entwined). Both immediately accepted the Chilean's idea, meaning that Jimmy Ponce and Juan Francisco Cueto were no longer in the band.
Regarding the internationalization of the band and their settlement in England, Anton said the following in an interview in Chile:
I honestly think that if we had been in Chile we would no longer exist. If you don't see results and you begin to start doing the same thing, people get bored of you too. It makes no sense. That was our situation, but I think that anyone, if he gets into a certain routine, in the end he gets frustrated and has no motivation."
With these new members he started a tour in Europe, one of the highlights was a performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Germany. Due to internal problems, Anton Reisenegger and Robin Eaglestone suffered personal differences before "No Gods No Masters" was completed, Robin was ejected from the band.
No Gods No Masters was released in Europe on 23 February 2004 in Springvale Studios in Suffolk, United Kingdom. The name was inspired by one of the anarchist movements. The bass parts were improvised by the guitarists of the band. In subsequent tours they were rejoined by band's original bassist and founder: Juan Francisco Cueto. With this began a new tour, including a mini tour of Chile.
Soon the band began work on a new album which was released in 2005 under the name Minion. This was recorded at Stage One Studios in Borgentreich, Germany and was voted one of the ten best albums of 2005 by Terrorizer magazine. The sound of the album returned to the simplicity and power of their riffs. The graphic design on the album cover was provided by Claudio Bergamin, who had participated in the design of No Gods No Masters.
Despite the success of the tours Criminal again made a lineup change. Cueto decided to retire, giving way to Glover Staff who had played with the band on tour with Six Feet Under. Nevertheless, due to the abrupt departure of Glover it was Dan Biggin who played with the band on the final shows of the tour.
In 2006 and 2007, the band continued to promote the new album.
Criminal opened for Megadeth in their tour through Chile in 2008.
In early 2009, the band ventured on the acclaimed White Hell Tour where they were promoting their latest album called White Hell.
On 26 January 2010, the band opened for Metallica at the Santiago Equestrian Club.
Despite the stability that had the group among its members, during a European tour fans noticed the absence of a signature member of the quartet, Rodrigo Contreras. His replacement was Olmo Cascallar who hails from the Basque band Gamora. In respect, Anton Reisenegger issued the following statement on his website:
I know that a lot of you are a little confused by the absence of Rodrigo during these concerts, so I think that it would be better to tell you what the situation is. Rod has decided to go back to Chile for now to take care of some personal issues and business. We hope that this is a temporary situation and that he'll come right back, but right now the future is sort of uncertain.
On the band's eighth album Fear Itself, Cascallar was replaced by Sergio Klein.
Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédéric Leclercq. The band's lineup has changed multiple times over its 41-year career, most noticeably with their bassists and lead guitarists. Petrozza and Reil are the only two original members left in Kreator, although the latter took a break from the band from 1994 to 1996. Yli-Sirniö has been the lead guitarist of Kreator since 2001, while Leclercq joined in 2019 as the replacement of Christian "Speesy" Giesler, who had been a member of the band since 1994.
Forbidden was an American thrash metal band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1985 as Forbidden Evil, the group was founded by Jim Pittman and guitarist Robb Flynn. Since their formation, Forbidden have broken up and reformed twice with numerous line-up changes. The most recent line-up of the band was Russ Anderson (vocals), Craig Locicero (guitar), Matt Camacho (bass), Steve Smyth (guitar) and Sasha Horn (drums). After breaking up for the first time in 1997 and briefly returning in 2001, Forbidden reunited once again in 2007 but has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2012.
Blind Illusion is an American progressive thrash metal band from Richmond, California. Formed in 1978 by lead guitarist and main songwriter Mark Biedermann, the band has had several lineup changes, with Biedermann being the only constant member. Blind Illusion is also notable for featuring Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde, both later of Primus, who performed bass and guitar respectively on their 1988 debut album The Sane Asylum.
Dungeon was an Australian melodic power metal band based in Sydney, considered by some as one of Australia's leading metal bands. The group existed from 1989 to 2005, released six full-length albums, and toured heavily both throughout Australia and internationally.
Alice in Hell is the debut studio album by Canadian thrash metal band Annihilator, released on April 17, 1989 through Roadrunner Records. This was the only Annihilator album for ten years to feature Randy Rampage on vocals, until he returned for their seventh studio album Criteria for a Black Widow (1999).
Iron Angel is a German heavy metal band from Hamburg.
Holy Moses is a German thrash metal band active from 1980 to 1994 and again since 2000. They are well noted for being fronted by Sabina Classen, who is the only constant member of Holy Moses, and for being one of the first German thrash metal bands. Holy Moses have released 12 studio albums to date.
Prototype is an American progressive metal band from Los Angeles. The band was formed in 1994 by vocalist/guitarist Vince Levalois and guitarist Kragen Lum, who were both members of Psychosis at the time. The band's current line-up comprises founding members Levalois and Lum, bassist Kirk Scherer and drummer Pat Magrath. Bassists Stephen Gambina and Mike Bear and drummers Damion Ramirez and Nic Ritter are former members of the band.
Coprofago is a technical death metal band formed by Sebastián Vergara, Pablo Alvarez, Pablo Solari and Ignacio Suit in Santiago, Chile, in June 1993. The name of the band is taken from the Greek "copro" ("feces") and "fago" ("eat").
Merauder is an American metalcore band from New York City, formed in 1990.
Sacrificium is a Christian death metal band from Stuttgart, Germany, formed in 1993. The band made its breakthrough in the metal scene with its 2002 album Cold Black Piece of Flesh. The second album Escaping the Stupor was released on Black Lotus Records. Their music combines melodic passages with old school death metal, and their lyrics deal with personal experiences and opinions from Christian point of view.
Toxic Holocaust is an American thrash metal band from Portland, Oregon.
Anton Reisenegger von Oepen is a Chilean musician who is the lead guitarist and vocalist of the thrash/death metal band Criminal. He is also the host of the extreme metal radio show Disco Duro on Radio Futuro.
Dorso is a Chilean metal band. Common themes in the band's music are horror film creatures, hyperbolic sexual fetishes and Chilean myths.
Pentagram Chile is an extreme metal band from Chile, formed in 1985. They were part of the first wave of extreme metal in the mid 1980s, along with bands like Possessed, Celtic Frost, Sepultura and others. Considered as a very influential band in the black metal and death metal genres, they have influenced bands like At the Gates, Dismember, Napalm Death and Avulsed among others.
Massakre is a Chilean thrash metal band, and a pioneer for the genre both in Chile and throughout Latin America.
Holocausto are a heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They were formed in 1985 by Marco Antônio, Valério Exterminator and Rodrigo dos Anjos. To date they have released five records through Cogumelo Records. They have been described by the journalist Eduardo Rivadavia as "Quite possibly the most controversial Brazilian heavy metal band ever".
Mutilator was a thrash / death metal band, formed in 1985 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They released two full-length records through Cogumelo Records in the 1980s.
Pentagram is the first compilation album of the Chilean metal band Pentagram, independently released in Chile in 2000 and, two years later, in The Netherlands as a limited edition LP of 500 copies on vinyl. It was the first album by the group after its last demo, White Hell in 1991, and consists of songs recorded live and in the studio in 1987.
The Malefice is the debut full-length studio album by Chilean extreme metal band Pentagram Chile. It is their first full-length album released in over 28 years after their formation. The album was released on September 6, 2013. Vice described it as having a "beautifully meaty modern production job, but it pulses with feral old-school energy, giving off a possessed sense of conviction".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
