Necrophagia

Not to be confused with Necrophagist.

Necrophagia
Origin	Wellsville, Ohio, United States
Genres	Death metal
Years active	1983–1987 1997–present
Labels	Red Stream, Season of Mist, New Renaissance
Associated acts	Pantera, Down, Sigh, Numb & Number
Members
Frank Pucci Boris Randall Damien Matthews Shawn Slusarek
Past members
Anton Crowley Wayne Fabra Jared Faulk Dustin Havnen Mirai Kawashima Frediablo Opal Enthroned Undead Torment

Necrophagia is an American death metal band. The group was assembled in Wellsville, Ohio in 1983 and are credited as being one of the very first musical groups to be classified within the death metal genre. The group was founded by Frank Pucci. Their band name derives from the act of cannibalizing, or eating a corpse; the word is crafted from the two Greek words nekron (corpse) and phagein (to eat).

History

Early days

Necrophagia was a popular group in the underground "tape trading" scene of the early-to-mid-1980s. Featuring hard-driving metal and growling vocals, Necrophagia became a pioneer in the fledgling extreme metal genre. Their first full-length album, Season of the Dead, was recorded and released in 1987. In 1990, they released Ready for Death, which was recorded in 1986 and was intended to be the first album before Season of the Dead.

With Phil Anselmo

The band then split up due to musical differences and was dormant until 1997, when frontman Killjoy reformed the band with then-Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo (under the pseudonym Anton Crowley) on guitars, Wayne Fabra on drums, and Dustin Havnen on bass. This lineup released the album Holocausto de la Morte and the EP Black Blood Vomitorium. Havnen was then replaced by Jared Faulk, with Gorelord leader Frediablo joining as a second guitarist, and Opal Enthroned a.k.a. Stephanie Opal Weinstein (then Anselmo's wife) joining the band on keyboards. This line up released the Cannibal Holocaust EP in 2001 before splitting up leaving Killjoy & Frediablo as the only members for a short time.

2002 to 2006

In 2002, Killjoy announced the new Necrophagia line-up. Joining him and Frediablo would be Frediablos brother Fug on guitar, Iscariah (formerly of Immortal) on bass, Titta Tanni on drums and Mirai Kawashima of Japanese avant-garde black metal band Sigh on keyboards. This proved to be the most productive time for Necrophagia, with all members concentrating on the band rather than treating it as a side project. They released the albums The Divine Art of Torture and Harvest Ritual Vol. 1, as well as the Goblins Be Thine EP.

On June 6, 2006, Necrophagia released Slit Wrists And Casket Rot, a live album from their "Harvesting the Dead" tour.

Frediablo left the band in early 2006 to concentrate on his other band Gorelord, and was replaced by Undead Torment.

Death Trip 69

On December 22, 2007, Necrophagia announced that Death Trip 69 would be released before Summer 2008, followed by a major tour, but the release of the album was delayed. The album was officially released in May 2011 and features several guest appearances including Casey Chaos from Amen and former Mayhem vocalist Maniac.

Members

Current members

• Frank "Killjoy" Pucci - vocals
• Boris Randall - guitar
• Damien Matthews - bass guitar
• Shawn Slusarek - drums

Former members

• Fug - guitar
• Frediablo - guitar
• Phil Anselmo - guitar
• Larry "Madthrash" Madison - guitar (1st Album only)
• Ben "Killer" Martin - guitar
• Iscariah - bass guitar
• Jared Faulk - bass guitar
• Dustin Havnen - bass guitar
• Bill "Blaster" Bork - bass guitar (1st Album only)
• Titta Tani - drums
• Wayne Fabra - drums
• Joe "Voyer" Blazer - drums (1st Album only)
• Opal Enthroned - keyboards
• Mirai Kawashima - keyboards
• Undead Torment- guitar

Discography

Studio albums

• 1987 - Season of the Dead
• 1990 - Ready For Death (Bootleg)
• 1998 - Holocausto de la Morte
• 2003 - The Divine Art of Torture
• 2005 - Harvest Ritual Vol. 1
• 2011 - Death Trip 69

Other releases

• 1995 - Death Is Fun (Compilation)
• 1999 - Black Blood Vomitorium (EP)
• 2000 - A Legacy of Horror, Gore and Sickness (Compilation)
• 2001 - Cannibal Holocaust (EP)
• 2001 - Reverse Voices of the Dead (Split EP with Antaeus)
• 2004 - Goblins Be Thine (EP)
• 2006 - Slit Wrists and Casket Rot (Live)

References

External links

• Official Myspace
• Necrophagia at Allmusic