Gothic occasion – 89%
we hope you die, March 3rd, 2025
The recent release of Immolation’s biography by Decibel books (review pending) has naturally led to another deep dive into this enigmatic pillar of death metal. Possibly not the most interesting characters to write a book about, simply by virtue of how fucking nice Dolan and Vigna are as people, especially when compared to the many antics of their peer group.
Immolation are, were, will always be, one of my favourite death metal bands. This is partly sentimental, but also intellectual. Being a child of black metal, as a young teen I had dipped my toe into Incantation and Morbid Angel by the time I picked up ‘Dawn of Possession’ on a whim, only to subsequently buy and consume every one of their albums in order of release – something I didn’t do with any other significant act in death metal – up to and including ‘Unholy Cult’ as the latest Immo release at the time. Each one warrants its own stand alone essay. I had always respected death metal, Immolation were the band that made me truly love the form, prompting me to write it a permission slip for a piece of my soul
Here, it’s back to ‘Dawn of Possession’ itself. It’s something of a bittersweet album. It easily holds its own against the stiff competition of the class of 91, even if it is ultimately outclassed by ‘Blessed are the Sick’, ‘Unquestionable Presence’ or ‘Mental Funeral’. But equally, Immolation, despite a renewed campaign of popularity thanks in part to their ritual signing of the Nuclear Blast death certificate, are often absent from the usual rundowns of death metal’s foundational documents. An unceremonious ejection from Roadrunner’s roster and the delayed release of their second album in part explains this. ‘Herein After’, released in 1996 to death metal’s vastly depleted fanbase never had much of a start in life. A fact also explainable by just how out there the album turned out to be, limiting its distribution to the connoisseur class of death metal as a result.
Circa ‘Dawn of Possession’ however, Immolation were still stylistically embedded within their generation, yet to fully articulate the mind expanding jazz tangents that found their way onto ‘Herein After’. But the seeds are mappable on ‘Dawn of Possession’, not least on Vigna’s remarkably well formed lead guitar work, made all the more so considering his age and experience at the time. I stand by my claim that he is one of most unique voices in death metal alongside Trey, the pair of which deserve recognition within the extended family of metal for their contribution to expanding the borders of guitar music.
The first four tracks achieve their aim as an opening salvo, already demonstrating their penchant for convoluted, unpredictably undulating riffs melded to uniquely dark, oppressive atmospheric currents that prove to be the ideal companion piece to what Incantation achieved on ‘Onward to Golgotha’ despite the obvious differences in intent between each album. There is a fluidity, naturalism, dignity, and sense of gothic occasion to the music lacking in the more mechanical preoccupations of the nearest competition. That being said, Immolation can go toe to toe with anyone as far as technical density is concerned. It’s this ability alongside an emergent malevolence that makes this music so worthy of repeated study, their music demands that you spend time with it. It never fails to be an eventful, conversational, lively sparring partner.
The latter half of the album may offer fewer highlights, ‘Burial Ground’ and ‘Immolation’ being revamped versions of earlier tracks. But it remains instructive on how Immolation grew out of their status as another plucky young upstart of early death metal arrogance fed on a diet of Venom and Slayer and into the complex intelligence that found its way onto ‘Failures for Gods’ and ‘Close to a World Below’. The opening riff on ‘After my Prayers’ never fails to catch me off guard. That, along with many other daring moments on this early material, remind us of what made death metal in its heyday so inspiring. A carefree, devil-may-care attitude that saw these young minds throw in whatever material felt right at a particular moment, all stewarded by a conscious meta logic that bound these freeform moments to a greater whole.
Originally published at Hate Meditations
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