Necrophagist

Necrophagist (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) was a German technical death metal band founded and fronted by guitarist and vocalist Muhammed Suiçmez. The band used baroque music-influenced compositions paired with extreme metal drumming.

The name originates from the Greek roots νεκρο- nekro- ("dead (body)")<ref name="urlOnline Etymology Dictionary">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and -φαγος -{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("eater of").<ref name="urlOnline Etymology Dictionary Phagous">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This figuratively translates to eater of the dead; literally the eater of dead bodies.

History

1999–2004: Onset of Putrefaction and Epitaph

Necrophagist's debut album Onset of Putrefaction has been out of print for years. The percussion on the album was handled by a drum machine. Eventually, a new edition with drum samples recorded by Hannes Grossmann was created. All of the old guitar, bass guitar and vocal tracks were mixed along with the brand new drum samples. The re-release also features two songs from Necrophagist's 1995 self-titled demo tape. The whole album was also engineered by long-time Necrophagist engineer and producer Christoph Brandes at The Iguana Studios. It was mastered by Bob Katz at "Digital Domain", Orlando, Florida. The re-release was issued in 2004 by Willowtip in the United States/Canada and Relapse in the rest of the world. In August 2001, Necrophagist performed at the Brutal Assault open air festival in the Czech Republic. The band also returned to perform in the years 2003, 2005 and 2010.

2004–2008: Touring and continued lineup changes

On 10 February 2006, it was announced that Christian Münzner had departed the band due to scheduling conflicts. Later on, he joined the death metal band Obscura. A replacement guitarist was found, Sami Raatikainen, who is from Helsinki, Finland. Sami also plays in the band Codeon.

In 2006, the band undertook an American tour called "Carving North America's Epitaph". Necrophagist was joined on this tour by Arsis, Alarum, Neuraxis, Ion Dissonance, Cattle Decapitation and Thine Eyes Bleed. They, along with Dying Fetus, supported Cannibal Corpse on their U.S. tour in the fall, which also included some Canadian venues.

In 2007, the band announced on its Myspace profile that after the 2007 California Metalfest, drummer Hannes Grossmann would leave the band. Hannes stated that he was unable to commit to the band's full-time touring schedule. Marco Minnemann (who has played with Paul Gilbert, Terry Bozzio, Chad Wackerman) was the official permanent replacement for Hannes.

Necrophagist was a headlining act for The Summer Slaughter Tour in 2007, which featured a wide variety of other extreme metal bands including Decapitated, Arsis, The Faceless, Cephalic Carnage, As Blood Runs Black and Cattle Decapitation.

In April 2008, Necrophagist announced that Romain Goulon would be joining the band as their new drummer, replacing Minnemann, who would still be working with Suiçmez on a side project.<ref name="newdrum">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Necrophagist played in the "Pillage the Village Tour" in 2008 from 26 August 2008 to 10 September 2008 with death metal bands Dying Fetus and Beneath the Massacre. Shows in some areas also included Carcass, Suffocation, 1349 and Aborted.

2008–present: Hiatus

In 2008, Necrophagist began work on its next album with new drummer Romain Goulon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to rumours, two possible names were "The Path to Naught" and "Death to the Faithful". Suiçmez stated that the band would be using seven-string guitars on the album.<ref name="NECROPHAGIST Frontman Talks About Forthcoming Album">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Muhammed himself will be recording with a new custom shop Ibanez Xiphos guitar with seven strings, as well as 27 frets.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sami Raatikainen is an Ibanez guitar endorser, using a 7 String RG-Series guitar on stage.

As of 2012, it was unknown if Necrophagist were still active, or had plans to release a follow-up to Epitaph. This had led to a large amount of speculation on the part of fans, bewildered by the album's long wait. However, in a statement made in August 2012, former drummer Marco Minnemann stated there was indeed progress on a new album, saying "I know people are waiting for the new Necro album so bad. Muhammed is a very close friend of mine and I know he's really concerned about delivering the best album possible. But I personally know there's progress....hang on in there, I'm sure he'll deliver the goods."

On 11 September 2013, drummer Romain Goulon issued a statement that Necrophagist were still active and attempting to record a new album, however, there was no indication of when it would be released.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Then on 4 April 2016, Goulon replied to a Facebook comment and stated "We're looking for a coffin to mourn the dead", saying that Necrophagist would not be moving forward as a band, and thus were done.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Members

Final lineup

• Muhammed Suiçmez – guitar, vocals (1992–2010)
• Stephan Fimmers – bass (2003–2010)
• Sami Raatikainen – guitar (2006–2010)
• Romain Goulon – drums (2008–2010)

Former members

• Jochen Bittmann – bass (1992–2001)
• Jan-Paul Herm – guitar (1992–1995)
• Matthias Holzapfel – guitar (1995–2000)
• Raphael Kempermann – drums (1992–1995)
• Daniel Silva – drums (1995–1998, 2001–2003)
• Shahram Naderi – drums (1998–2001)
• Mostafa Karami – guitar (1998–2001)
• Mario Petrovic – guitar (2000–2001)
• Slavek Foltyn – drums (2000–2001)
• Björn Vollmer – guitar (2001–2002)
• Julien Laroche – bass (2001–2003)
• Christian Münzner – guitar (2002–2006)
• Heiko Linzert – bass (2003)
• Hannes Grossmann – drums (2003–2007)
• Marco Minnemann – drums (2007–2008)

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:150 bottom:80 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1992 till:08/20/2010 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1992 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1992 Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4

Colors =

id:vocals   value:red             legend:Vocals
id:guitar   value:green           legend:Guitar
id:bass     value:blue            legend:Bass
id:drums    value:orange          legend:Drums
id:studio   value:black           legend:Studio_album
id:other    value:gray(0.5)       legend:Demo
id:bars     value:gray(0.95)

BackgroundColors = bars:bars

LineData =

layer:back
color:other
 at:10/14/1992
 at:08/12/1995
color:studio
 at:09/14/1999
 at:03/08/2004

BarData =

bar:Muhammed  text:"Muhammed Suiçmez"
bar:Jan               text:"Jan-Paul Herm"
bar:Matt             text:"Matthias Holzapfel"
bar:Mario           text:"Mario Petrovich"
bar:Bjorn            text:"Björn Vollmer"
bar:Chris            text:"Christian Münzner"
bar:Sami             text:"Sami Raatikainen"
bar:Mostafa         text:"Mostafa Karami"
bar:Jochen         text:"Jochen Bittmann"
bar:Julien           text:"Julien Laroche"
bar:Heiko            text:"Heiko Linzert"
bar:Stephan       text:"Stephan Fimmers"
bar:Raphael        text:"Raphael Kempermann"
bar:Daniel           text:"Daniel Silva"
bar:Shahram         text:"Shahram Naderi"
bar:Slavek           text:"Slavek Foltyn"
bar:Hannes         text:"Hannes Grossmann"
bar:Marco           text:"Marco Minnemann"
bar:Romain         text:"Romain Goulon"

PlotData =

width:11
bar:Muhammed  from:01/01/1992 till:end  color:vocals width:3
bar:Muhammed  from:01/01/1992 till:end  color:guitar
bar:Jan               from:01/01/1992 till:11/01/1995  color:guitar
bar:Matt             from:11/01/1995 till:04/01/2000  color:guitar
bar:Mario           from:04/01/2000 till:10/01/2001  color:guitar
bar:Bjorn            from:10/01/2001 till:07/01/2002  color:guitar
bar:Chris            from:07/01/2002 till:02/10/2006  color:guitar
bar:Sami             from:02/10/2006 till:end  color:guitar
bar:Jochen         from:01/01/1992 till:10/01/2001  color:bass
bar:Julien           from:10/01/2001 till:05/01/2003  color:bass
bar:Heiko           from:05/01/2003 till:10/01/2003  color:bass
bar:Stephan       from:10/01/2003 till:end  color:bass
bar:Raphael       from:01/01/1992 till:11/01/1995  color:drums
bar:Daniel          from:11/01/1995 till:09/01/1998  color:drums
bar:Shahram  from:09/01/1998 till:02/01/2000  color:drums
bar:Mostafa  from:09/01/1998 till:02/01/2000  color:guitar
bar:Slavek         from:02/01/2000 till:10/01/2001  color:drums
bar:Daniel         from:10/01/2001 till:05/01/2003  color:drums
bar:Hannes       from:05/01/2003 till:04/10/2007  color:drums
bar:Marco         from:04/10/2007 till:07/29/2008  color:drums
bar:Romain       from:07/29/2008 till:end  color:drums
</timeline>

Discography

Studio albums

• Onset of Putrefaction (1999)
• Epitaph (2004)

Demo tapes

• Requiems of Festered Gore (1992)
• Necrophagist (1995)

External links

• Template:Official website
• {{#if:|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs|{{#if:Template:Wikidata|Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs}}}}