Epitaph (Necrophagist album)

Epitaph is the second and final studio album by German death metal band Necrophagist released by Relapse Records on August 3, 2004. Unlike on Onset of Putrefaction, guitarist and vocalist Muhammed Suiçmez recorded the album alongside a full band instead of recording it by himself. Though most uncredited, guitarist Christian Münzner, who later departed from the band and joined Obscura, confirmed he wrote at least half of the lead guitar parts as well as several basslines on the album.^[4] The track "Only Ash Remains" incorporates the melody of the "Montagues and Capulets" segment of the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev.^[5]

Epitaph
Studio album by Necrophagist
Released	3 August 2004
Recorded	"The Depth of Torment", Baden-Baden (guitars); "The Iguana Studios", March-Hugstetten (drums, vocals); "Aexxys-Art", Schwandorf (bass)
Genre	Technical death metal
Length	32:56
Label	Relapse
Producer	Muhammed Suiçmez
Necrophagist chronology
Onset of Putrefaction (1999) Epitaph (2004)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
PopMatters	(favorable)[2]
Ultimate Guitar	[3]
Metal Storm	[citation needed]

Composition and recording

Writing for the album began in 2002, with Muhammed Suiçmez composing the tracks initially in Power Tab Editor, and eventually in Guitar Pro; newcomer lead guitarist Christian Münzner composing some of the solos ("the solo in Stabwound, 2nd one in Stillborn, the ones in Epitaph and Seven, the 2 trade offs with Muhammed in Only Ash and the first solo in Symbiotic"), half of the track "Symbiotic in Theory" and a portion of the basslines, for which he took influence from Greg Howe.^[6]

Recording took place in three locations simultaneously: Hannes Grossmann recorded his drum tracks in Studio Iguana in March with Christoph Brandes, Stephan Fimmers recorded his bass in his own home studio in Schwandorf, while Münzner and Suiçmez recorded guitars in a makeshift studio in a school's basement in Baden-Baden;^[6] scheduling forced Münzner to drop out from recording rhythm guitars on three tracks, which were fully played by Suiçmez.^[6] As Suiçmez wanted to emphasize the compositional quality of the songs, the band relied heavily on punch-ins to get the accuracy they wanted.^[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Muhammed Suiçmez except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Stabwound"	2:48
2.	"The Stillborn One"	4:24
3.	"Ignominious & Pale"	4:01
4.	"Diminished to B"	4:59
5.	"Epitaph"	4:15
6.	"Only Ash Remains"	4:11
7.	"Seven"	3:44
8.	"Symbiotic in Theory" (Münzner, Suiçmez)	4:35
Total length:		32:56

Personnel

Necrophagist

• Muhammed Suiçmez – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
• Christian Münzner – lead guitar
• Stephan Fimmers – bass guitar
• Hannes Grossmann – drums

Additional personnel

• Christoph Brandes – drum and vocal recording
• Bob Katz – mastering