Turkey's pride in heavy metal, Pentagram (known as "Mezarkabul" in the rest of the world) released their 2nd album "Trail Blazer" in 1992. "Secret Missile" is the only video from the album; and maybe the first Heavy Metal video ever shot in Turkey. Pentagram's anti-war lyrics captured most of the mood on Trail Blazer and on their consecutive album "Anatolia". Enjoy the video!
Pentagram's Official Web Site: w.thepentagram.net
Pentagram Fan Site: w.puratu.org
Trivia:
+Pentagram recorded Trail Blazer with their ex-guitarist Demir Demirkan. However, right after the recording was completed, Demir moved to Los Angeles to further his musical education at Musician's Institute (MI). In Demir's abscence, Metin Turkcan filled the line-up and appeared on this video. Metin also joined the band for their "Trail Blazer Tour" in 1993.
+Demir returned to the band in 1996 to record Pentagram's next album, "Anatolia". Released in 1997, Anatolia is the most successful Turkish Heavy Metal album of all time, selling more than 150K copies in Turkey. This figure has not been exceeded by any other heavy metal band so far.
+Demir left the band again in 1998 and went on to release several solo albums. He is still an active rock artist. Metin Turkcan rejoined Pentagram after Demir's leave.
+Trail Blazer was recorded in a studio that had no prior experience with any rock or heavy metal recordings. The inexperienced sound editors could not get right tunes for the drums, so the band had to use drum machine on the songs (except for the live recordings).
+Due to financial impossibilities of the period in Turkey, the band had to "erase" the "original" recording of its self-titled debut album (released in 1990) and then record "Trail Blazer" on top of it. Maybe this is a unique example in music history.
+Sadly, Trail Blazer is not printed in Turkey anymore; because the recording company went bankrupt! However, in the UK and in Germany, the album is present at music stores, printed by Nuclear Blast.
+Two other bands exist with the same name "Pentagram"; one in Chile and the other in the USA. Because of copyright issues, Pentagram had to change its name for their international release of Unspoken album in 2001. The band adopted its new name "Mezarkabul", which means "acceptance to grave" or "grave is accepted". The band still uses "Pentagram" as its title in Turkey and "Mezarkabul" in the rest of the world.