Hakan Utangaç

Hakan Utangaç — Biography

Hakan Utangaç is a Turkish musician born on August 15, 1965, in Istanbul. He co-founded the Turkish heavy metal band Pentagram — known internationally as Mezarkabul — together with Cenk Ünnü, serving as the group's guitarist. He studied at Marmara University's Faculty of Fine Arts, in the Department of Cinema and Television.

The band's sound shifted considerably over the decades: their 1990 debut Pentagram and 1992 follow-up Trail Blazer were rooted in thrash and speed metal, but the 1997 album Anatolia marked a turning point, blending Anatolian melodies and Middle Eastern influences into a more classic heavy metal style. Anatolia sold over 100,000 copies and helped the band break into European markets, a direction continued on Unspoken and Bir (2002).

Taking its name from the Greek word pentagrammon, meaning "five-lined," the band has released eight studio albums and four live albums to date, cementing its status as one of Turkey's most enduring heavy metal acts. Its eighth studio album, Makina Elektrika, was released on September 9, 2022.