Necrophagist (Greek for "eater of the dead") [1] is a German death metal band, founded and fronted by Turkish-German guitarist/vocalist Muhammed Suiçmez. The band is known for its rapid and technical compositions, as well as classical influence. The name originates from the Greek root words "nekros" ("dead body") [2] and "phagous" ("to eat, eater of"). [3]

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History

Necrophagist's debut album Onset of Putrefaction has been out of print for years. Muhammed was never satisfied in full by the sound of the album. 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, to create a crisp and clear stereo track. 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 Records in America/Canada and Relapse Records in the rest of the world.

On the 10th of February, 2006 it was announced that Christian Muenzner had departed the band due to 'scheduling conflicts'. Later on he joined the technical death metal band Obscura. A replacement guitarist has been found, Sami Raatikainen, who is from Helsinki, Finland. Sami also plays in the band "Codeon". The band was on hiatus from March 2005 to June 2005, due to Muhammed Suiçmez being ill.

Necrophagist has begun to work on its next album with new drummer Romain Goulon. ^[4]

In 2006 the band did an American (Canadian dates were cancelled) 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 US tour in the fall, which also included some Canadian venues.

In 2007 the band announced on its MySpace page 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. ^[5]

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, Cattle Decapitation and many more. Arsis, however, had to cancel numerous shows due to an incident with its bus in Sacramento.

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. ^[6]

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

The band is writing a new, yet untitled album. Suiçmez stated that the band would be using seven-string guitars on the album. ^[7] Muhammed himself will be recording with a new custom shop Ibanez Xiphos guitar with 7 strings, as well as 27 frets. ^[8]

On the 2009 US Summer Slaughter Tour, the band previewed a song titled "Dawn and Demise" from their upcoming album. This song was performed with 7 String guitars. Sami Raatikainen is now an Ibanez Guitar endorsee, using a 7 String RG-Series guitar on stage.

Necrophagist headlined the Canadian leg of the 2009 Summer Slaughter due to Behemoth being held at the United States border for not filling out new documentation.

Members

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

Former members

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

Discography

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

References

1. Life and death
2. Online Etymology Dictionary "necro-"
3. Online Etymology Dictionary "-phagous"
4. The Official NECROPHAGIST Website - "Romain Goulon joins Necrophagist"
5. Hannes Grossmann Confirms His Departure on Blastology.net
6. Necrophagist Announces New Drummer
7. Blabbermouth - "NECROPHAGIST Frontman Talks About Forthcoming Album"
8. www.myspace.com/necrophagistde