Muhammed Suiçmez

Muhammed Suiçmez is a guitar virtuoso and the founding member of the German technical death metal band Necrophagist.

Early years

Muhammed Suiçmez was born on November 28, 1975. Muhammed was born and raised in Germany. He is of Turkish descent, his parents were Turkish immigrants, who were strict and traditional. Around the age of 10 Muhammed began listening to death metal, and took up an interest in music. Some of Muhammed's favorite bands at this time included: Carcass, Death, Entombed, Morbid Angel, and Yngwie Malmsteen.

Teenage years

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. Stemming from the time he had begun listening to metal, Muhammed had the desire to learn the guitar, as well as compose and create his own songs. Finally, at the age of 15 he could resist the urge no longer, but his strict parents forbid him to learn the guitar saying it wasn't part of being a muslim. At the time Muhammed's older brother was attending studies in a bigger city, so Muhammed gave his brother the money to buy a guitar for him. His parents found the guitar, and his father destroyed it, but this could not stop Muhammed. For the first three years he played guitar, he practiced every day. Muhammed never took lessons, and taught himself to play guitar. He taught himself how to play other band's songs by ear. He also listened and studied Yngwie Malmsteen. The soloing style of Muhammed is influenced in a large part by Malmsteen and his neo-classical style.

By the time Muhammed was 17 he was ready to record some of the music he had written, and, in 1992 he formed Necrophagist, who released their first self-titled demo, consisting of 5 tracks that same year. All the music and lyrics were written by Muhammed, except 1 song which the bassist at that time wrote some of the music for. Muhammed continued writing music, in fact by 1993 (he was just 18) all the songs for Onset of Putrefaction had already been written (but not necessarily recorded).

His twenties and on

When he was 20, a second self-titled album was released (1995). This one had 4 tracks, and all the music and lyrics were written by Muhammed. There were many line-up changes to the members of the band which impeded the progress Muhammed sought for Necrophagist and finally, in 1998 Muhammed, 22 at the time, took it upon himself to begin recording a full length album where he would perform and record every instrument, as well as produce it all himself. Muhammed 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).

Over the next few years the line up changes continued. However, shows were played, and Muhammed also began working on new material. In 2002 Christian Münzner joined Necrophagist (who has now left Necrophagist). By the summer of 2003 Muhammed had the material for another full length album ready, but there was no drummer or bassist present. Stefan Fimmers and Hannes Grossmann joined shortly before recording was to begin. In summer 2003 the newly complete Necrophagist began recording the songs for "Epitaph". On August 3rd 2004 Epitaph is released, another album in which Suiçmez wrote all of the music except for song which he co-wrote with Münzner. A month later, on September 14 2004 Onset of Putrefaction was also re-released through Relapse Records, except for North America, where Willowtip Records distributes this album. The reissue features completely new drum recordings by Hannes, and improved bass, guitar, and vocal tracks.

Since then Muhammed has got over a bad illness which forced Necrophagist to cancel some shows, He also wrote a thesis for his university course; which is Mechanical Engineering. Now, Necrophagist and Muhammed have just begun their onslaught. The stable line-up has begun doing shows in Europe, and a US tour is planned for 2006.