History Music / Immolation

* RapunzelHair: Ross Dolan is known for his waist-length hair.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: A solid 10 their entire career, though ''Dawn'' occasionally dipped into a soft 10.

* TitleTrack: Every album of theirs, with the sole arguable exception being their ''Hope and Horror'' EP, which has "The Struggle of Hope and Horror".

* BadassBeard: Bob Vigna sports one that, when combined with the BaldOfAwesome, makes him look like either [[Film/FlashGordon1980 Ming the Merciless]] or Anton [=LaVey=].
* BaldOfAwesome: Bob Vigna

* ReligionRantSong: Their general lyrical focus, though in a more mature manner than is typically seen in the genre. They also began to focus on world issues as well starting at around the release of ''Harnessing Ruin'', realizing that the world, not just religion, was messed up.

* TechnicalDeathMetal: Debatably so; their arrangements are certainly incredibly complex and demanding, but they carry less of an "aiming to be technical" vibe and more of a "this is how I write" vibe.

* EpicRocking: The title tracks off ''Close to a World Below'' and ''Unholy Cult'' both top eight minutes. "The Struggle of Hope and Horror", off ''Hope and Horror'', clocks in at 7:21.

This band contains examples of the following tropes:

* BadassBeard: Bob Vigna sports one that, when combined with the BaldOfAwesome, makes him look like either [[Film/FlashGordon Ming the Merciless]] or Anton [=LaVey=].

Formed in Yonkers, New York in 1986 under the name of Rigor Mortis by Andrew Sakowicz (vocals, bass), and Dave Wilkinson (drums), the early installment of the band released a few demos before changing their name to Immolation in 1988. The initial lineup of this new iteration was Ross Dolan (vocals, bass), Robert "Bob" Vigna and Tom Wilkinson (guitars), and Neal Boback (drums); after a pair of demos, Boback left the following year and was replaced by Craig Smilowski, creating the lineup that would go on to release ''Dawn of Possession'' in 1991 to rave reviews and a great deal of attention. For various reasons (primarily their unceremonious ejection from Roadrunner), however, five years came and went with no real progress beyond a demo compilation until a deal was inked with Metal Blade Records that resulted in the release of ''Here in After'' in 1996, though Smilowski was ejected sometime around then as well [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave due to his habit of crashing on Vigna's couch for weeks at a time without paying rent]], and Alex Hernandez was soon hired as his replacement. ''Failures for Gods'' followed in 1999, along with ''Close to a World Below'' in 2000. Wilkinson left the following year and was quickly replaced by Bill Taylor of Music/{{Angelcorpse}} and Acheron fame, and with that, the ''Unholy Cult'' lineup was born. Hernandez, in turn, left the following year and was replaced by Steve Shalaty, with a live DVD soon following and ''Harnessing Ruin'' coming out in 2005. Things have stayed quite solid since then, with a steady array of quality albums and tours having taken place, and it seems clear that things will stay that way for the foreseeable future.

* LongRunnerLineUp: Their current lineup reached type 2 status in 2013.

* ThePeteBest: Neal Boback.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Yes, Dolan and Vigna are indeed part of the live lineup of Gospel of the Witches, and Dolan also had some vocal contributions on ''Salem's Wounds''.

Immolation is an American death metal band. Characterized by their instantly recognizable blend of creepy dissonant chords and pinch harmonics, mind-bogglingly complex drum patterns, and the trademark roar of Ross Dolan, they have worked their way into being one of the biggest names in death metal.