May 09, 2001
CRIMINAL haven’t split up! The band is still alive and well and will soon release their new album "Cancer" on Metal Blade Records in Europe, most probably in August, 2001. Here’s a statement from CRIMINAL’s Anton Reisenegger: "It is called "Cancer" because in a way CRIMINAL is like a cancer… It grows and mutates, and just refuses to die. We have been through such a lot of shit in the past couple of years, both personal and business-wise, that it’s almost a miracle that we’re still around. But all that shit has just made us stronger… I think a lot of the comparisons with SEPULTURA on our last album were really unjustified, it was just so obvious because both bands are from South America. With "Cancer" I hope there won’t be any comparisons at all, because I feel we’ve really progressed in the process of forging our very own style. I know the album is kinda short, but I’d rather have 30 minutes of killers than 60 minutes of fillers. I mean, some of the greatest albums in extreme metal are really short: just take "Reign In Blood" or "Wolverine Blues" for an example, which by the way are two of my all time faves. On stage is when CRIMINAL really comes to life… We just can’t wait to play live in Europe and show all the metalheads what this band is capable of. We wanna twist some fuckin’ necks!!!!! The work with Vincent Wojno on our last album really helped us. We learned a lot of studio techniques and tricks which we applied this time around. The guy who mixed the album (Mariano Pavez) is the top engineer in Chile right now, and I think he did a super job. I mean, looking back now, it’s amazing what a sound we managed to create in only two weeks of work. We chose to use our videos as bonus material for Europe because we put a lot of work into them, and I think it will help people understand where we come from and what we’re all about." (Anton Reisenegger, May 2001)