Mezarkabul
| Mezarkabul aka Pentagram | |
|---|---|
 Mezarkabul live at Rock'n Coke 2007 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Heavy metal |
| founding | 1987 |
| Website | http://www.thepentagram.net/ |
| Founding members | |
guitar |
Hakan Utangaç |
Drums |
Cenk Unnu |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Gökalp Ergen |
guitar |
Hakan Utangaç |
Lead guitar |
Metin Türkcan |
Electric bass |
Tarkan Gözübüyük |
Drums |
Cenk Unnu |
| former members | |
guitar |
Ümit Yılbar |
guitar |
Murat Net |
singing |
Bartu Toptaş |
singing |
Ogün Sanlısoy |
guitar |
Demir Demirkan |
singing |
Murat Ilkan |
Mezarkabul is a Turkish heavy metal band. She is considered to be the pioneer of the metal scene there and is commercially successful. The quintet from Istanbul was able to achieve some successes outside of their home country. Mezarkabul sing mainly in English, but some albums also contain songs with Turkish lyrics. In their music they combine heavy metal with oriental influences.
Band name
Mezarkabul means something like 'grave acceptance' or 'accepting death'. This band name, often with the appendix aka Pentagram, is only used for activities outside Turkey, as another band already exists with the name Pentagram. In Turkey the band is still called simply Pentagram.
Because of the name, the unfamiliar music and the mostly black clothing in Turkey, the band was repeatedly confronted with allegations of Satanism . The band always denied this and there are no references to it in the lyrics either.
Band history
Beginnings 1987–1990
Mezarkabul was founded in 1986 by the guitarist Hakan Utangaç and the drummer Cenk Ünnü under the name Pentagram. In 1987 bassist Tarkan Gözübüyük and guitarist Ümit Yılbar joined the band and formed the basic formation. Gökhan Semiz acted as singer. In the early years Pentagram played Thrash Metal / Speed Metal and sang exclusively in English, which was new in Turkey. After a few appearances, the band members and Ümit Yılbar parted ways. Murat Net was his successor.
First albums 1990–1997
In 1990 the English-language debut album appeared with the new singer Bartu Toptaş, which bore the band name: Pentagram . In particular the songs Rotten Dogs and Powerstage were hits in the scene and are still played at every concert today. Pentagram was one of the first metal albums by a Turkish band and achieved good sales. Several concerts followed in Turkey.
After singer Bartu Toptaş left the band, the second album Trail Blazer was launched in 1992 with his successor Ogün Sanlısoy . On the lead guitar played Demir Demirkan for Murat Net. The songs Secret Misile and Vita es Morte stand out from the album . A video clip was filmed for the first time for Secret Misile . An extensive tour followed . Nuclear Blast also released the album in Europe. The metal ballad Fly Forever was retrospectively dedicated to the former guitarist Ümit Yılbar, who died in 1993 during his military service.
Successes 1997–2002
Demir Demirkan left the band in 1995 to go to the USA . With the new singer Murat Ilkan, work began on the next album, Anatolia , which was released in 1997. Murat Ilkan attended the Conservatory in Izmir . With his voice spanning over four octaves , he has had a major impact on the band's sound since then. After two years guitarist Demir Demirkan got back into the band. Shortly after its release by Century Media , the album was also distributed outside Turkey (under the band name Pentagram). It sold over 100,000 times and is considered one of the most successful in the band's history.
With Anatolia Pentagram moved away from Thrash Metal / Speed Metal and from purely English lyrics. On the album, which can be assigned to heavy metal, there are also three Turkish-language songs. It was also new that the band let oriental sounds flow into the songs for the first time. A video clip was shot for the title song Anatolia . It is available in two versions, English and Turkish. For the first time there is also a ballad ( Sonsuz ) with purely acoustic instruments on a Pentagram / Mezarkabul album. It is noticeable that the recording quality on Anatolia has been significantly improved compared to the first two albums. The band gave several concerts in their home country in the following period.
At an open-air gig in 1997, recordings were made for a live album , which appeared in 1998 and was entitled Popçular dışarı . After this album Demir Demirkan left the band to devote himself to his solo career. He was temporarily replaced by Onur Pamukçu.
In 2000, work began on a new studio album. The guitarist Metin Türkcan replaced Onur Pamukçu. The recordings for the fourth studio album took place in the Sierra Studios in Greece , the finish in the band's own studio in Istanbul. The album, entitled Unspoken , was released in 2001 in two different versions. The version for Turkey bears the original band name pentagram on the cover, the version for the European market under the label Sanctuary Records released the name Mezarkabul. The name change was necessary because there was already another band called Pentagram . The production of Unspoken received good reviews inside and outside Turkey. It sold over 50,000 copies shortly after it was released. All songs are in English.
In 2002 the album Bir was released with exclusively Turkish lyrics. It was only sold in Turkey. Although Mezarkabul gave other concerts and had television and festival appearances in the following years, no further album was released for a long time.
The DVD 2008
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, the band gave a concert in front of thousands of fans in the Bostanci Gösteri Merkezi on February 4, 2007, during which film recordings were also made. In 2008 the lavishly produced music DVD called Pentagram was released in 1987 under the Sony Music label . In addition to the concert, it also includes photos of the band and its members, cuts of the concert preparations and, in a hidden bonus section, other concert recordings from another festival appearance. At the same time a live CD with the same title was released ( Pentagram 1987 ). On July 27, 2008, Mezarkabul was the opening act together with Metallica in the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in front of over 40,000 spectators.
MMXII
In mid-May 2010 the singer Murat Ilkan announced that he had multiple sclerosis and would therefore leave the band. Just under a month later, on June 25, 2010, his farewell concert took place in the Inönü Stadium as part of the Sonisphere Festival in front of 40,000 spectators. A few days before the concert, Mezarkabul introduced Gökalp Ergen as the band's new singer on their website . Ergen previously sang with the Turkish rock group The Climb.
On July 5, 2011, the single Wasteland was released as a forerunner to the studio album MMXII , which was released on April 27, 2012. With the change of singer there was also a musical change. Stylistically, the band's first studio album in ten years turned out to be softer than its predecessors. In 2014 a live CD & DVD of the album "MXXII" was released with recordings from various concerts.
Pentagram acoustics
To mark the 30th anniversary of the band, an acoustic album was released on March 3rd, 2017, which is simply called "Pentagram Akustik" and contains a selection of 11 newly arranged Mezarkabul songs. Former band members such as Ogün Sanlisoy, Demir Demirkan and Murat Ilkan also played some of the songs on the album. In 2017/2018 the band gave the most sold-out concerts in Turkey and rarely performed so often in their career before. Mezarkabul aka Pentagram received a lot of media attention with their acoustic album and their band anniversary.
Activities outside of Turkey
In addition to good reviews in specialist magazines and the albums Trail Blazer , Anatolia and Unspoken , which were also released in Europe, Mezarkabul was able to play a few concerts in Denmark , Germany and Greece . One of the greatest successes is certainly the appearance at Wacken Open Air 2002, which is considered one of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world.
With club concerts in Bochum and Vienna , Mezarkabul performed again outside Turkey in May 2018 after a long time.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1990: Pentagram
- 1992: Trail Blazer
- 1997: Anatolia
- 2001: Unspoken
- 2002: Bir
- 2012: MMXII
- 2017: acoustics
Live albums
- 1998: Popçular dısarı
- 2008: Pentagram 1987
- 2014: Pentagram Live MMXIV
demo
- 1991: Live at the Trail
DVD
- 2008: Pentagram 1987
- 2014: Pentagram Live MMXIV
Web links
- official website
- puratu.org fanpage
- Mezarkabul at laut.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Turkish Daily News" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article in the Turkish Daliy News on July 25, 2007
- ↑ "vampster.de" Interview with bassist Tarkan Gözübüyük October 1, 2001
- ↑ "metal.de" Article / CD Presentation of Nephil September 21, 2001
- ↑ "http://www.vampster.com/artikel/show/?id=3978" regarding the name change from Pentagram to Mezarkabul, October 1, 2001
- ↑ Makis: Mezarkabul - Unspoken ( Memento of February 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). November 1, 2001, accessed October 7, 2012.
- ↑ "Headbang.com.tr" concert review from July 28, 2008
- ↑ Susan Nicholson: John's trip Turkey turns up trums In: Pertshire Advertiser , March 21, 1995
- ↑ "wacken.com" ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. List of participating bands
- ↑ concert review RockHard ; Issue 10/02 page 49
