5to1: 5Q&A with Turkish Death Metallers CARNOPHAGE

Here is another installment of 5to1 interview series. This time its Carnophage, death metal heavyweights coming from the land where east meets west with a critically acclaimed debut record released in 2008 through Unique Leader Records under their belt. Berkan, one of the 5 ambitious guys responsible for this brutally charged, technically rich extreme metal is here to give answers to things on [of violence]'s mind about Carnophage.

1 Signing with a well-known label for the debut release sounds like a "dream come true" for every single band in the world... So, was the whole thing really like a dream come true for you? Feeling satisfied about everything happened since the getting a records deal and relase of "Deformed Future / Genetic Nightmare"?
- A question frequently asked during wedding ceremony is like “This is the happiest moment of your life, isn’t it?” I think we won’t agree when we'll hear this. When we saw the mail which is from Erik (UL – Deeds of Flesh) I can’t describe the feelings... It was a childhood dream for us. When I saw a cd with Unique Leader logo on it, I used to buy with no doubt. It’s more like a label based fan act. And I know a lot of people think the same. About satisfaction, yeah everything is ok. They are very kind to us and the promotion is being done the way it has to be. Of course they’re happy with the sales :)

2 Being a band from Turkey, has some certain disadvantages... But on the other hand it also must have some advantages too... What's Carnophage's opinion about it all? Would you guys will be considering living in -for example- Tampa,Florida?
- The only good thing could be the beer . “Efes” tastes like no other!! All the kidding aside, we have no advantages at all. Since the overall income level is not enough for a musician who wants to earn his life from that, we have to work in full time jobs. Thus, touring becomes a hard thing to overcome. Anyway, we are not demoralized yet... Signing with a well known label was an initial step and we will carry on this shit. Not only for ourselves, we have to do this for whom believed us!! So living in US or Turkey is not matter. We will try our best for next releases then sit back and wait to get it’s worth.

3 What's missing after a critically acclaimed debut full-length is a busy tour schedule. And with a fine record label supporting your band you should have been playing in summer festivals these days instead of replying [of violence]'s 5 Q&A :) Any plans of booking live dates in US and Europe?
- I explained the missing thing about touring but still have no idea about (not) playing in summer fests as well. If you resolve the issue of that, let me know ;) As I mentioned in the previous question, we are not demoralized yet and still following up touring and playing in Europe and US. I don’t want to disclose anything before the things are definite but 2010 seems to be a good year for Carnophage.

4 It's probably quite early to ask but, what about the plans for a sophomore release? Will there be a full-length Carnophage record next or we'd better be expecting some splits and/or EPs from you guys?
- I think it’s the right time to talk about that!! We are fully concentrated on new songs and they will be pretty different from the first one. More aggressive, more chaotic and more planned stuff is coming. To be honest we are not as productive as a regular heavy metal band. Always looking for better shit and this brings slow production time. So we don’t want to spent any songs for a split or an EP. Thus, you can always expect full length releases from Carno.

5 Seeing "Deformed Future // Genetic Nightmare" between which two albums of a death metal fan's cd shelf would make you feel satisfied with the album's recognition? Or that can be asked in this way too, what would be the mp3 folder's name that "Deformed Future // Genetic Nightmare" placed at a death metal enthusiast's computer or ipod?
- Began with the first days of the band, a lot of metalheads said that Carno reminds earlier era of Suffocation to them. We know that we’re not a Suffo rip-off or tribute act but we also admit that they’re one of our biggest influences… We follow popular sites and forums on internet very often and they categorize Carno as “technical brutal death metal”. We look more major and don’t want to categorize just as technical or brutal death metal cause you can spot a black metal or a doom part anytime in Carno which sets us apart from a regular genre definition. So you could put our music to any death metal folder. By the way I prefer “shelves” more than folders ;)


Carnophage @ myspace: www.myspace.com/carnophageturkey
for Carnophage merch : www.carnophage.bigcartel.com