Criminal Reveals "Fear Itself" Details, Posts New Single "Down Driven"

The Anglo-Chilean thrashers from Criminal have announced their new full-length, "Fear Itself," is due out March 11th worldwide via Metal Blade Records. The first single, "Down Driven", can now be heard below, and pre-orders are online at this location.

Criminal comments: "Everyone who's heard the new album agrees that it is our most pissed-off sounding record to date. We didn't try to make it more brutal, but that's the way it came out. We just let the metal flow. I think having Sergio in the band has something to do with it, because, as a long time fan of the band, he told us when certain things seemed unnecessary. In fact, all but one of the songs are under four minutes long. Straight to the point, quick and painful.

"In terms of style, we didn't really plan anything, we just wrote the riffs that came to our minds. So there's a bit of thrash, hardcore and death metal, but also some classic heavy metal. All the stuff that we love put through a blender. And the end result sounds like Criminal. It's hard to define, but I think a long time ago we created our own sound, and every new album ends up sounding like that."

Recorded at Criminal bassist Danny Biggin's HVR Studios in Suffolk, with a "no bullshit" approach to recording, the band purposely avoided the vices of modern metal production such as samples, quantizing and amp simulators.

The striking artwork by renowned Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu (At The Gates, Arch Enemy, Mayhem, etc.) perfectly represents the bleak, dystopian atmosphere of the lyrics, which denounce warmongering, misinformation, exploitation and other ills of modern society. The album's track listing is as follows:

1. Intro
2. Down Driven
3. False Flag Attack
4. Shock Doctrine
5. The Needle and Knife
6. Scream of Consciousness
7. Summoning the Apocalypse
8. The One Who Speaks at Night
9. Animals to Gods
10. Deep in the Rot
11. Wasted Youth
12. Carne Molida