CRIMINAL guitarist/singer Anton Reisenegger has issued the following update:

"The recording of our new album is progressing very nicely, so I thought I'd just give you a quick update...

Two weeks ago, Zac recorded all of his drum tracks in only two days. That's 14 songs in two days! We were just sitting there with our jaws dropped, completely in awe of what Zac was doing on his kit. We got some of it on video, so we will hopefully post a clip on YouTube soon for all you drum freaks. Let me just tell you, this album will contain the sickest drumming ever heard on any Criminal album!

During the following week we recorded all rhythm guitars and guitar overdubs, and it's sounding pretty fucking phat! Even though he was just doing overdubs, Rod did some serious shredding, so I can't wait until we get to record his actual solos.

I also started doing some vocals, and I think I've found a very comfortable, somewhat deeper tone. I think the vox sound most similar to what I did on "Cancer". The other guys loved it, so I must be doing something right.

It's going to be really tough to decide on which songs to include on the album, as we all agree that 14 would be just too much. It's probably going to be between 10 and 12, and I expect some heated discussions, but it's hopefully all going to be for the best.

One thing we've been able to decide already is the album title – it's going to be called White Hell. Some of our older fans might recall that one of our early songs, that never made it onto an album, was called White Hell. The song itself won't be included on this album either, but we liked the sound of the title and the way it is open for interpretation.

"White Hell" could be many things, a hell of cocaine abuse, or a hell of racism and intolerance, or driving through Europe in the middle of winter in a van with no heating – which we actually did on the Six Feet Under tour! The concept of the original song was someone waking up in an emergency room, not knowing how or why they got there – which is actually based on a real-life experience – and this is what we are going to try and depict on the album cover in a very nightmarish way. Our long-time cover designer Claudio Bergamin has already gone to work on the cover, and I expect it to be killer as always!

We will spend the next couple of weeks tracking the bass, lead guitar and vocals, and will begin mixing in early December. Massacre have already set a release date for February 27th, and I think having this deadline hanging above us like the Sword Of Damocles will help us focus to get this fucker done once and for all!"