Line #34 Music/Immolation


1	Immolation is an American DeathMetal 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.
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3	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. Indeed, literally the only major change was in 2016, when Taylor left and was replaced by Alex Bouks.
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5	!!Discography:
6	* ''Demo'' (1988)
7	* ''Immolation'' (1989) - demo
8	* ''Dawn of Possession'' (1991)
9	* ''Promo'' (1994) - demo
10	* ''Stepping on Angels... Before Dawn'' (1995) - comp containing every Rigor Mortis and Immolation demo
11	* ''Here in After'' (1996)
12	* ''Failures for Gods'' (1999)
13	* ''Close to a World Below'' (2000)
14	* ''Unholy Cult'' (2002)
15	* ''Bringing Down the World'' (2004) - live DVD
16	* ''Harnessing Ruin'' (2005)
17	* ''Hope and Horror'' (2007) - EP
18	* ''Shadows in the Light'' (2007)
19	* ''Majesty and Decay'' (2010)
20	* ''Providence'' (2011) - digital-only EP sponsored by Scion A/V
21	* ''Kingdom of Conspiracy'' (2013)
22	* ''Atonement'' (2017)
23	* ''Acts of God'' (2022)
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25	!!This band contains examples of the following tropes:
26	* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Craig Smilowski and Alex Hernandez were both known for their aggressive and powerful playing styles. Subverted with Steve Shalaty, who is a far more relaxed and subtle player (more than likely owing to his jazz background).
27	* AscendedExtra: Alex Bouks was a longtime friend of the band who was already known for his work in Goreaphobia and Incantation well before he replaced Bill Taylor.
28	* BadassDriver: Ross Dolan works as a truck driver for his day job and once managed to bail Music/{{Nile}} out when their own bus driver ran off mid-tour, as his CDL class also allowed him to drive buses.
29	* BigApplesauce: Not from NYC, but they've played enough shows there to more or less be accepted as part of the city's metal scene. Also, there's Dolan's frequently-joked-about Noo Yawk accent.
30	* CareerEndingInjury: Part of why Bill Taylor left. His personal problems were the main issue, but he also had increasingly severe back problems that were negatively affecting his ability to even play, let alone tour.
31	* {{Determinator}}: Their seriousness and dedication was what convinced Alex Hernandez to join; the day that they were supposed to audition him was the day that a ''massive'' blizzard slammed that area, and Hernandez was totally prepared to call it off only to have them show up right at his door while the snow was piling up outside.
32	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Dawn'' was a pretty straightforward death metal album that contained hints of what they would later become, but was decidedly closer in sound to most of the Florida acts at that time.
33	* EpicRocking: "Close to a World Below" (8:19), "Unholy Cult" (8:02), "The Struggle of Hope and Horror" (7:21), "My Own Enemy" (6:52), "Failures for Gods" (6:25), "Son of Iniquity" (6:12), and "Bring Them Down" (6:06).
34	* IAmTheBand: Bob Vigna is the sole songwriter and also writes the drum parts, though he does allow Steve to make edits and add his own flair.
35	* IndecipherableLyrics: Averted, which is almost unheard of for the genre. Ross Dolan's diction is almost always impeccably clear, even when he's screaming his lungs out.
36	* {{Instrumentals}}: "The Struggle of Hope and Horror".
37	* LargeHam: Bob Vigna is a rare nonverbal example thanks to his onstage "attack the guitar" antics.
38	* LeadBassist: Ross Dolan, types B and C.
39	* LongRunnerLineUp: The Dolan/Vigna/Taylor/Shalaty lineup was a Type 2, having stayed the same for thirteen years until Taylor left in 2016.
40	* LoudnessWar: Every release since they first hooked up with producer Paul Orofino in 1999 has been bad for this, even by death metal standards. Special shout out to ''Kingdom of Conspiracy'', where Orofino apparently decided he just had to out-do [[Music/HateEternal Erik Rutan]] - practically every track is pegged at '''''[=DR3=]''''', and the listeners who aren't praising this new "triumph" in wall of sound techniques are blasting the production for rendering the bass inaudible, turning the drums to plastic and overcooking the guitars to the point of drowning out the rest of the band.
41	* MetalScream: Dolan's roar is a type 1-2 hybrid. Think of a crossover between [[Music/{{Pantera}} Phil Anselmo]]'s and [[Music/{{Opeth}} Mikael Akerfeldt]]'s harsh vocals.
42	* NewSoundAlbum: Several.
43	** ''Here in After'' played down the Floridian influences of the debut and bumped up the weird dissonant harmonies and complex polyrhythms to create their SignatureStyle.
44	** ''Providence'' took influence from some of the more modern bands and increased the amount of fast blasting portions.
45	* NiceGuy: The band as a whole, and especially Bob and Ross have an established reputation for being some of the nicest, most upstanding people in metal. Bands, promoters, venue staff, studio personnel, fans, you name it - if they have met them, they will cite them as some of the most genuine people in the scene.
46	* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: The chain of events that resulted in Steve Shalaty gaining a spiral fracture was so ridiculous that the band felt a need to state in an interview that yes, that was how it actually happened. Steve is a very active person, so you'd think that he fucked himself up while exercising. Nope. Instead, he accidentally stepped on a wasp nest, panicked, jumped away, happened to land the worst way possible, and badly fractured his ankle, necessitating months of physical therapy and setting ''Atonement'' back by at least half a year.
47	* PintsizedPowerhouse: Bob Vigna and Ross Dolan.
48	* 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 ''Unholy Cult'', realizing that the world, not just religion, was messed up.
49	* SignatureStyle: Odd-timed dissonant harmonic riffs, wailing solos that rely on a twisted interpretation of the blues scale, extraordinarily complex polyrhythmic drum patterns that frequently follow the guitars (an oddity anywhere, let alone in metal), and Dolan's mid-ranged roar.
50	* SingingVoiceDissonance: Ross Dolan's extremely distinctive mid-ranged roar stands in stark contrast to his rather high and nasally speaking voice.
51	* SpecialGuest: Incantation's John [=McEntee=] filled in on rhythm guitar for a tour in between Thomas Wilkinson's departure and Bill Taylor's hiring. According to [[http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/nile/annihilationofthewicked.html#5 this anecdote]] from [[Music/{{Nile}} Karl Sanders]], [=McEntee=] spent most of the tour in wrist braces because the band's guitar style caused him immense amounts of pain.
52	* 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 we write" vibe.
53	* TechnicianVersusPerformer: This occurs between Shalaty (technician) and Vigna (performer); while Vigna is an extremely technical player, he's also self-taught and has no knowledge of musical theory, while Shalaty has taken numerous lessons from a wide variety of individuals over the years and is quite knowledgeable in theory. Vigna also writes the basic drum patterns and then gives Shalaty some room to make edits; given the difference in backgrounds, this has apparently been an occasional source of frustration for Shalaty when the trained side of him gets annoyed at Vigna for doing something the "wrong" way before he remembers that Vigna has a plan and knows what he's doing.
54	* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Smilowski's tendency to pull this with Vigna was part of what got him ejected, with his frequent failure to show up to rehearsal (in spite of the fact that he was apparently unemployed and had nothing to do other than sit around Vigna's house and play drums) being the other reason. In spite of this, however, Dolan stressed that they didn't really have anything against him as a person and that he just happened to be a really shitty bandmate.
55	* TitleTrack: Every album of theirs, with the sole arguable exception being their ''Hope and Horror'' EP, which has "The Struggle of Hope and Horror".
56	* TropeCodifier: One of the codifiers of the New York death metal scene, along with Mortician, Incantation, and Music/{{Suffocation}}.

Context Music / Immolation