Muhammed Suiçmez

Muhammed Suiçmez
Background information
Born	November 28, 1975 Karlsruhe, Germany
Genres	Technical death metal, progressive metal, neoclassical metal
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, bass, drums, drum machine
Years active	1992–present
Associated acts	Necrophagist
Website
Notable instruments
7-string Ibanez LACS Falchion

Muhammed Suiçmez (Turkish: [mʊhɒːmˈmɛd sʊˈiːtʃmɛz], born November 28, 1975) is a German-Turkish guitarist and the frontman of the technical death metal band Necrophagist.^[1]

Biography

Muhammed Suiçmez was born in Karlsruhe to Turkish immigrants. Around the age of 12 he began listening to death metal, and took up an interest in music.

At the age of 14 (in 1989), Suiçmez wrote the lyrics for Onset of Putrefaction. Inspired by Carcass at the time, the lyrics were gory and dark. His soloing style is influenced in a large part by Yngwie Malmsteen and his neoclassical style, as can be seen with his extensive use of the harmonic minor scale, and use of legato techniques and sweep picking. He is also influenced by many classical composers such as Sergei Prokofiev and Ludwig van Beethoven. The end of "Only Ash Remains" is a part from Prokofiev's "The Dance of the Knights". While retaining this strong neoclassical feeling by using harmonic, phrygian dominant, diminished scales, he manages to make his solos extremely emotional, for example the solos in "Fermented Offal Discharge" and "Advanced Corpse Tumor". He ensures that "Onset of Putrefaction" was just "music for the fans", because of its gory lyrics, and produced "Epitaph" in 2004 ; this album was about philosophical themes. The band hasn't yet released a new album, but played a new song since 2009, "Dawn and Demise"

In 1992, he formed Necrophagist, who released their first demo (Requiems of Festered Gore), consisting of five tracks that same year. All the music and lyrics were written by Suiçmez, except one song, which the bassist at that time wrote some of the music for. Suiçmez continued writing music, in fact by 1993 (when he was 18) all the songs for Onset of Putrefaction had already been written (but not recorded).

When he was 20, a second self-titled demo was released (1995). This one had four tracks, and all the music and lyrics were written by Suiçmez. There were many line-up changes to the members of the band which impeded the progress Suiçmez sought for Necrophagist and finally, in 1998 he took it upon himself to begin recording a full length album where he would perform and record every instrument (except for the drums, which he programmed), as well as produce it all himself. Suiçmez first released and distributed the recording by himself and without a label, but a year later, Onset of Putrefaction was released on Noise Solution Records (1999).

Equipment

Suiçmez has 3 Custom Ibanez Xiphos guitars, one of which is a 7 string. His first guitar has reverse sharktooth inlays. His second custom (7 string) has a "Necrophagist" inlay on the fretboard. For most Necrophagist recordings Suiçmez is tuned in D standard (ADGCFAD for seven strings, DGCFAD otherwise). Suiçmez also had a 27 fret 7 string custom Ibanez, as seen on photos on his band's MySpace, but it was ruined when someone mishandled it backstage after a show. He has a new custom that is similar to his other 7 string, except it does not have a reversed headstock and the Necrophagist logo across the fretboard.

As of 2011, Suiçmez began using new Ibanez Falchion guitars prior to the release of the new Ibanez X-Series models.

Before he became endorsed by Ibanez, he used a Vigier Marilyn, then later switched to a BC Rich Stealth Model, as used by Chuck Schuldiner of Death.

He uses various ENGL heads, mainly the Savage 120 and the SE E670. He also used to have an ENGL E860 rackhead wired for 110V, but it was stolen.

References

1. "Life and death-Gig review". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2010-01-30.

External links

• Ibanez Xiphos Official webpage (includes an interview with Muhammed Suiçmez and the designer of the Xiphos guitar, Ed Laing).