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Criminal

Criminal is a Chilean-British thrash metal band formed in late 1991 in Santiago by Anton Reisenegger on guitar and vocals and Rodrigo Contreras as lead guitarist. Later they were joined by J.J. Vallejo on drums and Juan Francisco Cueto as bassist. Cueto's position in the band has varied over the group's history since Dan Biggin has so far been more stable, despite the bass not being his first instrument. The band incorporates elements of thrash metal and death metal, with a small mix of groove metal. They later moved to Colchester, England.Within the country they are considered the strongest icon band of heavy metal. They got 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 has released seven studio albums, two live albums, and two demos.HistoryIn late 1991 Reisenegger Anton joined Rodrigo Contreras to start a new thrash metal band: Criminal. Anton was already one of the most influential death metal underground bands in the local scene and had gotten 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. Their 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 in the Head Bangers show, rapidly gaining reputation internationally. After that they made their first appearance outside their country, in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. In 1995, they played at the Festival of Latin American Metal in Guadalajara, México. After this show J.J. Vallejo was replaced by Jimmy Ponce.In 1996 the group opened shows for Bruce Dickinson and Motörhead, also releasing the EP Live Disorder.In 1997 they released Dead Soul, according to fans and critics, their best studio album to date. The album was released in the United States and Europe. They collaborated with Exodus and Napalm Death in 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 following year Reisenegger moved to England and met the lead singer of Extreme Noise Terror, where he would become a guitarist for their tour that next year. It was here that here would get to know a member of that band, Zac O'Neil (drums), who would lead him to the willingness to undertake other musical directions. Thus, Anton didn't fault in showing him Criminal material or to convince the drummer to continue the project. Zack 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, giving a new start to Criminal again. Note that Jimmy Ponce and Juan Francisco Cueto were no longer part of 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 concert tourin the major stages of Europe, one of the highlights is the Wacken Open Air. Unfortunately because of internal problems, Anton Reisenegger & Robin Eaglestone suffered personal differences before "No Gods No Masters" was completed Robin asserts he was kicked out after two split meetings were arranged by another member .No Gods No Masters was released in Europe on February 23, 2004 in Springvale Studios in Suffolk, United Kingdom. The name was inspired by one of the anarchist movements. "The band admits being influenced by various styles, from grindcore to melodic rock, but they have fuzed these different styles to create a sound all their own" The bass had to be 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 influence of Slayer and Machine Head album Head. 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 suffered a break in one of its members. The budding bassist 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, promoting the new album was the main goal in the agenda of the quintet in the Up From the Ground Festival in Gemunden, Germany. The same happened in 2007 in a tour of Chile.Criminal opened for Megadeth in the trip through Chile in 2008, where they gave a more impressive show to about 15,000 people.In an early 2009 the ventured on the acclaimed White Hell Tour where they promoting their latest album called White Hell. The tour had an impressive line up with shows throughout Chile. The White Hell Tour began on Tuesday, January 13 in the town of Buin where they were supported by JesusMartyr, Nuclear, Battlerage and Lethargy. The next day they gave a show in Rancagua where JesusMartyr and Aboriginal opened up for them. On January 15 in Concepcion, it would be Genocide, Insanity and the Union of the Dead's turn to open up. On Friday 16, it was in Valparaiso where Jesus Martyr, Kingdom of Hate, and Kaiowas chronicus were the ones with the mission of opening the concert.On January 26, 2010 were granted the right to able to play before more than 55,000 spectators at the Santiago Equestrian Club opening up for Metallica which was on tour promoting the World Magnetic Tour album Death Magnetic.Despite the stability that had the group among its members, in the last European tour fans noticed the absence of a signature member of the quartet, Rodrigo Contreras. His replacement was Olmo 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.