Cenotaph (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Centotaph


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Origin = Ankara, Turkey
Genre = Technical death metal, Deathgrind
Years_active = 1994 – present
Label = United Guttural Records
Unmatched Brutality Records
Associated_acts = Drain of Impurity
Cidesphere
URL = [http://www.cenotaph.tk www.cenotaph.tk]
Current_members = Batu Çetin Semih Örnek (Barbar) Başar Çetin Cihan Akün Coşkun Kaplan
Past_members = Bülent Güngör Cem Devrim Dursun "Goremaster" Bülent İzgeç Cenker Yılmaz
Notable_instruments =

Cenotaph is a Technical deathgrind band from Ankara, Turkey. They formed in 1994 and released their first demo, "Life Immortal" in 1995. With their second LP "Puked Genital Purulency", they gained a worldwide fame in the death metal and grindcore scenes.Fact|date=May 2007

Biography

Cenotaph was formed in the summer of 1994 by the group's vocalist Batu Çetin. After various changes in the band's line up, they released their first independent demo, "Life Immortal" in 1995. Back then the line-up consisted of Batu Çetin (vocals), Coşkun Kaplan (guitar), Bülent İzgeç (bass) and Bülent Güngör (drummer, ex-Suicide). The band's first demo received rather good responses from the local scene, and Cenotaph took part in quite a few shows and festivals in Ankara, Turkey.

In 1996, drummer Bülent G. was replaced by Goremaster. This was the ideal line-up and didn't change until 1999. With the new line-up, Cenotaph recorded their second demo-promo "Promo '96" in 1996. With this promo, the band's technical style and brutal sound became steadier and tighter.

In the Summer of 1996, Cenotaph entered Yeşilkart Studios in İstanbul, to record their eight-song debut album "Voluptuously Minced". With this recording they received offers from a few labels from outside Turkey but they preferred to go with the local label, Hammer Müzik. Finally "Voluptuously Minced" was released by Hammer Müzik, got great interest and has been distributed worldwide by numerous underground labels and distros. "Voluptuously Minced" was distributed in CD format by various labels in approximately 25 countries, and reached a wide range of listeners in Turkey in tape/CD format.

In 1998, the band recorded their second album "Puked Genital Purulency", at Stüdyo Forte in İstanbul. "Puked Genital Purulency" was released by Hammer Müzik in MC and CD format in 1999. This album also received acclaim from local extreme music fans as well as from fans abroad. After a few months of the album's release, Cenotaph managed to reach a big number of fans worldwide (especially in the USA and Canada). "Puked Genital Purulency" took part in many compilation CDs, tapes and zines.After the album was released, bassist Bülent and guitarist Coşkun left the band due to personal reasons. During the time, Batu Çetin gathered the new members Başar Çetin and Cihan Akün for Cenotaph.

With this new line-up Cenotaph performed at Ankara's Rockstation Festival in 2002. After the fest, the band began to work on new songs for the upcoming album and between January-March 2003, Cenotaph completed the recordings of their third album "Pseudo Verminal Cadaverium" at Zoo Sound Studios in Ankara. Following the completion of the recording sessions, the mastering sessions were made at the Mega Wimp Sound Studios in Germany. The album was released worldwide in the summer of 2003 by the American label United Guttural Records. The album's release and distribution in Turkey was done by Batu Çetin's own label Drain Productions.

For the promotion of the release, Cenotaph performed at Germany's extreme metal fest Fuck the Commerce in May 2005 and Ukraine's Metal Heads Mission festival in August 2007.

Ex-guitarist Coşkun, who formerly left the band back in 1999, rejoined the band in 2005 as the bass player. Subsequently, Dursun quit the band in 2005, and the band decided to continue with Semih -who previously was their session drummer for the shows abroad- as the new and full-time drummer. In 2006, due to high demands, the first two albums were gathered on one CD and re-released under the title of "Voluptuously Puked Genitals" by Burning Dogma Records from Texas, USA. On May 27, 2006, the band performed at the fourth Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore, USA. On September 1 2007, they released their fourth studio album, "Reincarnation in Gorextasy".

Line-up

Current members

* Batu Çetin − Vocals (1994 -)
* Çağlar Yürüt − Drums (2006 -)

* Cihan Akün − Guitars (1999 -)
* Coşkun Kaplan − Bass guitar (1994 - 1999, 2005 -)

Former members

* Bülent Güngör − Drums (1994 - 1996)
* Goremaster − Drums (1996 - 2005)
* Bülent İzgeç − Bass guitar (1994 - 1999)
* Cenker Yılmaz − Session guitars in "Pseudo Verminal Cadaverium" (2003)
* Semih Ornek (Barbar) − Drums (2005 - 2006)

Discography

tandard releases

* "Voluptously Minced" (1997)
* "Puked Genital Purulency" (1999)
* "Pseudo Verminal Cadaverium" (2003)
* "Reincarnation in Gorextasy" (2007)

Compilations

* "Voluptously Puked Genitals" (2005)

External links

* [http://www.cenotaph.tk Official Cenotaph website]
* [http://www.unmatchedbrutality.com/ Umatched Brutality Records site]
* [http://www.hammermuzik.com/ HammerMuzik Records site]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/burningdogmarecords Burning Dogma Records site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/cenotaph Cenotaph] at MySpace

References

* [http://www.8ung.at/cenotaph/html/bio.htm Biography of Cenotaph]
* [http://www.rockinrock.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=89 Interview with Cenotaph - March 10, 2006 (Turkish)]
* [http://www.brutalism.com/cenotaph.html Interview with Batu Çetin - December 11, 2003]