Muhammed Suiçmez

Muhammed Suiçmez

Muhammed Suiçmez is a German guitarist and the frontman of the German technical death metal band Necrophagist. He is known for his proficient guitar work.

Early years

Muhammed Suiçmez was born on November 28, 1975 in Karlsruhe to Turkish immigrants. Around the age of 10 Muhammed began listening to death metal, and took up an interest in music. Some of Muhammed's favourite bands at this time included Carcass, Death, Entombed, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Nocturnus 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 not resist the urge no longer, but his parents forbade him to learn the guitar. 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 Muhammed didn't stop. 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 to and studied Yngwie Malmsteen. The soloing style of Muhammed is influenced in a large part by Malmsteen and his neo-classical style, as can be seen with his extensive use of the harmonic minor scale, and use of legato techniques and sweep picking.

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 demo (Requiems Of Festered Gore), consisting of five tracks that same year. All the music and lyrics were written by Muhammed, except one 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 recorded).

His twenties and on

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 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 (except for the drums, which he programmed), 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 Müenzner joined 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 one song (Symbiotic in Theory) 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 samples (made from recordings of Hannes drumkit), and improved bass, guitar, and vocal tracks. Unfortunately, Christian has only recently left the band. The guitarist brought in to replace him was Sami Raatikainen.

Since then Muhammed has gotten over a bad illness, for which no official explanation was given as to what it was or what it was caused by. This has caused Necrophagist to cancel some shows; meanwhile, Muhammed has written a thesis for his university course in Mechanical Engineering. A new, stable line-up has begun doing shows in Europe, and a US tour was played in 2006.

In the summer of 2007 Necrophagist teamed up with drummer Marco Minnemann to headline the Summer Slaughter tour. Though according to Necrophagist's Myspace, they have now parted ways with Marco, and have recruited French drummer Romain Goulon.

It has been reported through their MySpace that Muhammed and Marco are teaming up for a side project.

Equipment

Muhammed has 3 Custom Ibanez Xiphos guitars, one of which is a 7 string. His first guitar has reverse sharktooth inlays. His second custom and third custom (7 string) have a Necrophagist inlay on the fretboard. For most Necrophagist recordings Muhammed is tuned in D standard (ADGCFAD for seven strings , DGCFAD otherwise). Muhammed is also working with Ibanez on a 7-string custom shop xiphos with 27 frets, which can be seen on their myspace page.

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 an SE670. For cabs he uses Vader 4x12's with a line 6 Uber Metal Distortion Pedal.

External links

• Ibanez Xiphos Offical Webpage (includes an interview with Muhammed Suicmez and the designer of the Xiphos guitar, Ed Laing).