Necrophagist released their landmark album Epitaph in 2004, promised new material on tours at the time, and then ultimately faded away into nothing. The band never officially broke up, but given their absence and remarks made by band members, it seems they're defunct. Still, Epitaph is just as good now as it was in 2004.
Epitaph was recorded with the lineup of vocalist and guitarist Muhammed Suiçmez at the helm, guitarist Christian Münzner (Alkaloid, ex-Obscura, ex-Spawn Of Possession), bassist Stefan Fimmers (Grand Sermon, ex-Pestilence), and drummer Hannes Grossmann (Alkaloid, Blotted Science, Hate Eternal, ex-Obscura). Now a full 15 years later, Münzner is looking back on joining the band and recording the album.
You can read his story below and then go check out his Facebook page. Dude is up to some great music!
The Epitaph album turns 15 this month (I think I missed the actual original release date by 3 days although I have been planning to post this for a while ; the recordings actually started almost one year early, so 16 years ago now). Since people seemed to like it when I shared some insight on some of the other albums I’ve been on when there were “round” anniversaries why not also do it for the album that’s probably still the one that most people know me for.
I had joined Necrophagist in the spring of 2002, when I was 20 years old. I had the first album which was only known in the underground scene but had been a huge fan of it. I knew the band had been around since 1991 and I was also familiar with the original demos. I remember learning Foul Body Autopsy and To Breathe In A Casket for the audition. I talked in depth about how I met Hannes Grossmann, which whom I still make music today and played in probably 10.927 different projects at this point, in the Youtube interview which was posted recently.
This was a very important album for me for numerous reasons. It was my entry card to the game so to speak, as it laid the foundation for my career that followed, as most people first heard my playing through that record. And more important, it was an immense learning experience. I was basically still a kid when we recorded this and not very experienced in the entire process of professionally recording an album like that, and it was an excruciating process for me at times, but I learned a lot for the years to come.
We felt that this album was something special, but no one really expected the hype that followed, nor that it would inspire an entire generation of musicians to go for something similar. These things never happen when you jump on a hype train and do what everybody else is doing.
There are a few things I remember from the process. I remember that first the songs were only in Power Tab format with just the guitar parts. I remember the revelation when we first discovered the drum editor in Guitar Pro in 2003. I remember that we recorded the guitars in the basement of a school were the amp and cabinets were set up, with a provisory sound protection wall. Our control room in which we played was a very tiny, nightmarish place (hence the name “Depth Of Torment”). And I remember breaking my head how the hell I would manage to incorporate maj7 arpeggios into death metal solos. I even got the chance to contribute some of my own riffs in the last song, Symbiotic In Theory (the first roughly one and a half minutes of the song).
I have not listened to this album in a LONG time, but now might be a good time to do so.
