Rockezine.com interview with Criminal on Mar 15, 2004

with Anton Reisenegger on Mar 15, 2004

After making a few albums in Chili, Anton Reisenegger and Rodrigo Contreras decided to make a move to England. They created a new line-up and changed the musical direction. That resulted in `No Gods No Masters`, a technical, yet brutal album. I interviewed Anton and asked him about the change of style and Bjorn Borg.
		Who are left of the original line-up? Of the original line-up, the only people left are Rodrigo and myself.
		How often have you heard the comparisons with Sepultura? Quite often in the beginning, but lately the comparisons have sort of died down. On the new album we really went out of our way to create something original, and if some journalists still insist on comparing us to Sepultura, it’s just because they are lazy and stupid.
		How does a band like Criminal get a Metal Blade-contract? And are you guys satisfied with the label? We’ve been working with Metal Blade for quite a while. We were contacted by their American office upon the release of “Dead Soul”, our second album. From then on, they have released all our albums in Europe. Working with them is quite easy, because they are really honest with their opinions and don’t beat around the bush. They do a great job with promotion, so yeah, we are quite satisfied
		The new CD sounds like it got more attention, and I mean the music; more technic patterns, more developed guitarsound etc. How come? On this new album we just felt the urge to try new things. The band is comprised of quite talented musicians, so we just wanted to push the envelope a little and do something to challenge ourselves as well as the listeners. The earlier albums were more riff-based and had simpler song structures, whereas this new album is far more varied and has more complex elements. So I guess people are waking up to the fact that we can do lots of different, interesting things.
		Which bands influence Criminal? In the beginning I would have to say the likes of Slayer, Sepultura and maybe Pantera, but nowadays we draw influences from a wider range of styles, be it Nasum or Tool. We don’t set any limits for the music we listen to, that’s why the outcome is so varied as well
		Can you name three famous Swedish peoples? Olof Palme, Bjorn Borg, and Tomas Lindberg!
		The titel is pretty direct, as well is the cover art, is Criminal anti-religious? Let me put it this way, I respect everyone’s religious beliefs as long as they respect mine. But I see a lot of evil coming from organized religions. People are being killed every day because of religion, I would think it would be better for everyone to think for themselves.
		What do you want to achieve with Criminal? Just to keep playing, making albums and doing shows. I think we are realistic enough not to set our goals too high. For me at least it’s still the music itself that’s the most important in all this. You can easily get lost in this game of being famous and big and whatever. It’s not real. That’s why so many people get frustrated with this business.
		Another question about the cover Art: who has done this? Pretty cool pic and artwork... Yeah, I think it’s great, too! It was done by a Chilean artist called Claudio Bergamin. He is now living in Italy and looking to work with European bands. He can be contacted through his website: http://bergamind.cjb.net/ http://www.criminal1.com
(Friso Veltkamp)