Criminal is a Chilean

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band formed in late 1991 in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

by Anton Reisenegger (guitar and vocals) and Rodrigo Contreras (lead guitar). 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 Groove metal, sometimes also called neo-thrash or post-thrash, is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre is primarily derived from thrash metal, but played in slower tempos, and making use of rhythmic guitar pa ...

and

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

. They later moved to

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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

band: Criminal. Anton was already known in the local underground scene, and had received recognition by bands like

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mi ...

and Dismember. The latter band had played with Rodrigo Contreras before. Their debut show was in April 1992, opening for

Kreator Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. Their current line-up consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mille Petrozza, Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen Reil, Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli- ...

. 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 ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

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 BMG may refer to: Organizations Music publishing companies * Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 ** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that was pur ...

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 MTV is a Latin American pay television network that was launched on 1 October 1993 as the Hispanic American version of MTV. It is owned by Paramount Networks Americas, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The channel broadcasts music videos as ...

on the Head Bangers show, rapidly gaining reputation internationally. After that they made their first appearance outside their country, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina and

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. In 1995, they played at the ''Festival of Latin American Metal'' in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. After this show J.J. Vallejo was replaced by Jimmy Ponce, drummer of Slavery. In 1996, the group opened shows for

Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...

and

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

, 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 Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

and

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

and met the lead singer of

Extreme Noise Terror Extreme Noise Terror (often abbreviated to ENT) are a British extreme metal band formed in Ipswich, England in 1985 and one of the earliest and most influential crust bands. Noted for one of the earliest uses of dual vocalists in hardcore,Bonn ...

, 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: With these new members he started a tour in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, one of the highlights was a performance at the

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

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 Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...

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 Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

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 Anton Reisenegger von Oepen (born 21 January 1969) is a Chilean musician who is the guitarist and vocalist of the thrash/death metal band Criminal as well as guitarist and vocalist of death metal band Pentagram Chile. He is also the host of t ...

issued the following statement on his website: On the band's eighth album ''Fear Itself'', Cascallar was replaced by Sergio Klein.

Discography

Demos

* ''Demo'' (1992) * ''Forked Demo'' (1992)

Albums

* '' Victimized'' (1994) * '' Dead Soul'' (1997) * ''Cancer'' (2000) * '' No Gods No Masters'' (2004) * ''

Sicario derives from the Latin '' sicarius''. It may refer to: * ''Killer 77, Alive or Dead ''Killer 77, Alive or Dead'' (, ) is a 1966 Italian-Spanish Eurospy film directed by Mino Guerrini and starring Rod Dana. Marco Giusti. ''007 all'italiana'' ...

'' (2005) * '' White Hell'' (2009) * ''

Akelarre ''Akelarre'' is a Basque term meaning Witches' Sabbath (a gathering of those practicing witchcraft). ''Akerra'' means male goat in the Basque language. Witches' sabbaths were envisioned as presided over by a goat. The word has been loaned to ...

'' (2011) * ''Fear Itself'' (2016) * ''Sacrificio'' (2021)

EPs

* ''Live Disorder'' (1996)

Live albums

* ''Slave Master Live'' (1998)

Band members

Current members

– vocals, guitar * Sergio Klein – lead guitar * Danilo Estrella – drums * Dan Biggin – bass

Former members

* Rodrigo Contreras – guitar * Juan Francisco "Cato" Cueto – bass * J.J Vallejo – drums * Jimmy Ponce – drums * Robin Eaglestone – bass * Staff Glover – bass * Aldo Celle – bass * Olmo Cascallar – guitar * Zac O'Neil – drums

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Musical groups established in 1991 Chilean thrash metal musical groups Chilean death metal musical groups English thrash metal musical groups English death metal musical groups Chilean heavy metal musical groups