IMMOLATION Discusses New Career-Spanning Book: 'The Struggle Has Always Been Real For Us'

By David E. Gehlke

Over 36 years of playing death metal has taught the IMMOLATION duo of Ross Dolan (vocals/bass) and Bob Vigna (guitar) plenty of things, yet none resonates more than the value of sticking with it. Their singularly identifiable brand of death metal (and let's be clear: you know an IMMOLATION song when you hear it) was fast out of the gates via their seminal 1991 "Dawn Of Possession" debut. Then, five years elapsed before their sophomore "Here In After" arrived. From that point forward, IMMOLATION had no choice but to put their heads down, work hard and weather whatever storms the music industry and/or death metal scene threw their way — and there were plenty.

Now arguably in the throes of their best creative period, which started with 2017's "Atonement" and carried on through 2022's "Acts Of God", a book chronicling IMMOLATION's career has just been released by way of "Into Everlasting Fire". Penned by Kevin Stewart-Panko and published via Decibel Books, "Into Everlasting Fire" is a massively deep exploration into nearly every facet of IMMOLATION, capturing all their highs, lows and a lot of the slog, which makes every bit worth reading. Shortly after its release, BLABBERMOUTH.NET caught up with Dolan and Vigna to talk about the book and their upcoming plans, which should involve a new studio album in the not-so-distant future.

Blabbermouth: Had the two of you ever thought of doing a book before Kevin and Albert [Mudrian, Decibel editor-in-chief] approached you?

Bob: "We'd kid around and say like, 'Oh, we need to write a book someday,' but not this soon. I would have thought we would have done it when we were a little older. It was that kind of nonsense idea. When Kevin and Albert came to us, it was like, 'Okay. Really? You want to do that?' [Laughs] It was a surprise when it was all said and done."

Ross: "Totally. Kevin works for us on the road. He does our merch. We've been working with him since 2019. He's been our guy ever since. He's spent a lot of time on the road with us in vans, buses and Bandwagons. He's seen every aspect of IMMOLATION. [Laughs] He's witnessed it firsthand. He's privy to a lot of the inside dealings and how we are as people and how things are on the road. You get a good sense of people when you're living with them for a month. We got along great with Kevin right from the get-go. He's such a great dude to have out with us. He's a lot of fun. He's super-sharp. He's super-easy going. We love him; he's an awesome dude. The whole thing about the book came up when he was talking to Will Tarrant. He's really good friends with him. I was in touch with Will in the early '80s back in the fanzine days. We've known Will and he's been a good friend for a long time. Will was the one pushing the buttons in Kevin's head: 'Hey. You should write a book on these guys.' Kevin brought it up, and we said, 'Yeah. It would be cool. It would be awesome,' but we kind of poo-pooed it: 'It will never happen.' The idea was brought to Albert and he said, 'Yes! Let's do it.' I think that's how it went down, right Bob?"

Bob: "We were a little foggy on how it went down. In the end, that's how it worked out."

Ross: "We didn't plan for it. It happened organically. It was like, 'Okay, cool! We're doing a book. It will be awesome.'"

Bob: "It was a surprise, like, 'Yeah, really! Let's give it a shot!'"

Ross: "We have a long story for over 36 years. It's similar to a lot of the bands who started when we did. We had the same challenges as everyone else. I guess the only difference would be geographical location. We just happened to be in New York. A lot was going on here. We were privy to every underground band that came through. There were a lot of great venues that would host underground shows. We would travel down to Philly every weekend to G-Willikers and South Jersey for shows, which our friend AnnMarie [Bowman] would put on. We were pretty fortunate. Being in New York helped us to have access to so much at that time."

Blabbermouth: There is quite a bit of nostalgia toward the early death metal scene of late. When recounting everything with Kevin for the book, did you start to feel that way as well?

Ross: "Of course. It hit even more when we got the photos together. As much information is in this book, it goes through our history. Ross and I were like telling stories and things that happened—there's a lot of people we know that weren't mentioned or didn't come up in the interviews. There are so many things. We even had pictures with people that we didn't talk about in the book that we tried to include. There's only so much room in the book. It's just the way it is. It was funny to look through these pictures and go through these stories with Kevin and think about stuff that we might not have thought of before. You don't realize how long it's been until you start looking back. You want to go forward, but when you stop and look back 36 years ago, it's crazy. You don't think about that stuff until you start getting questioned about it. Then, eventually, all these old memories come back."

Ross: "In some ways, it seems very recent, like in the early days of the late '80s. It seems like in my head, 'Wow. It seemed like it only happened a month ago.' As Bob said, when we were looking through the pictures and going down memory lane visually, then I was like, 'Wow! That was a long time ago.' [Laughs] It's like another lifetime. It was kind of cool. For Bob and I, it was cool because we started talking about a specific incident or whatever from the past and between the two of us, my memory would help him and vice versa. I think if it had been either one of us on our own, it would have been challenging, but since we were able to feed off each other's memories, we were able to piece things together. As much as you're like, 'I remember it was like this.' Then Bob would be, 'Well, I remember it was like this.'"

Blabbermouth: Florida usually gets most of the attention. The book shines a light on the New York death metal scene. Do you think it was appropriate that you were the magnifying glass of sorts?

Ross: "We always had a scene here. You mention the Florida scene, but you can't forget that a lot of the Florida bands were from New York. They relocated, like DEICIDE, CANNIBAL CORPSE and MALEVOLENT CREATION, for the convenience of Morrisound [Recording] and the standard of living was much cheaper down there. We learned in the '80s that you could survive down there for a lot less. We're from Yonkers, which is outside of Manhattan. We're in Westchester County, which is an expensive area to live in. It's very different. For whatever reason, a lot of those bands were from New York. I always thought New York had a fucking great scene. We're playing Sunday with some of the best: MORTICIAN, INTERNAL BLEEDING, MALIGNANCY, all bands who have been around almost since the beginning. They're still kicking. It's always been a strong scene, whether you're into extreme death metal or hardcore. It's a thriving scene throughout those times and even now. It's cool that the book does focus on that aspect of it. We were in the heart of everything. Kevin does a great job of tapping into that vibe. The book starts at Irving Plaza, which is a big moment for us to headline that venue. It was a place we'd go to as teenagers to see shows. It was one of these iconic venues. To kind of headline that and have such a great night with all the killer bands, yeah, it was a moment for us. I thought it was cool the way he started the story there and just went backward. He did it really well, and he tied everything together in the end. He killed it; he knocked it out of the park."

Blabbermouth: Has the "Tune to Bob" story during the making of "Dawn Of Possession" taken on a life of its own? Do you still talk about it?

Bob: "For the most part, yeah. It was funny. We were young and knew we tuned a little lower. We paid attention to being in tune but never realized what we were tuning to. [Laughs] It was so funny when Harris [Johns, producer] asked, 'What key are you in?' I never tuned to a tuner. I learned to tune by ear. I never thought about what key. [Laughs] He took the guitar and hooked it up and said, 'All right. You have to tune to C.' 'All right, done!' [Laughs] When he asked that question, the other guys said, 'Well, we just tune to Bob!'"

Ross: "If nothing else, the fans, for whatever reason, will get a real sense that we had no clue what we were doing. [Laughs] We were going along and making it happen as we went. There was no manual on how to do this. Everything was very DIY. We had a mission. We didn't know how to achieve the goal. Hopefully, some younger bands who are starting out and read that, maybe they'll get a sense of, 'Okay, they were fumbling and failing as well.'"

Blabbermouth: A pivotal moment happens early in the book when you take five years to follow up "Dawn Of Possession". Had "Here In After" come out sooner, do you think it would have changed your trajectory?

Ross: "I don't know if it would. Would it have changed us for the better? I don't know. Things happen. We're here because of what happened in the past. It might have changed things for the worse. [Laughs] It was what it was. That's how things went down. Maybe because it took so long for the second record to come and CANNIBAL CORPSE took us on those tours, gave us our career back and that's what inspired us to go forward. Once we got our foot back in the door after such a long break, we were excited that much more. Who knows?"

Ross: "That's a great point. Because it took us so long, 'Here In After' came out the way it did. Once it came out, as Bob said, CANNIBAL CORPSE took us out on all the tours for 'Vile'. That was a big moment for them because they dropped [vocalist Chris] Barnes and he started SIX FEET UNDER. We did a tour with them on that cycle as well. Then, the following four tours, two in the U.S. and two in Europe, we were with CANNIBAL CORPSE, with whom we were really tight. We have been in touch with them since the demo days. They've always been really supportive of IMMOLATION. They've gone out of their way time and time again to help us out. They've taken us out on so many tours. This was like the seventh tour we've done with them, the one we just got back from. They're a band that puts their money where their mouth is: 'We want to do a tour with you guys.' They make it happen. They are at a level that makes us happy and proud. They are next-level for this music, like the venues they are playing and the number of people coming out to the shows. Almost every show we did with them was sold out in big venues. It's inspiring for us to see our friends of 36 years achieve that level of success. These are the same guys who have reached out to help us out and bring us along. We have so much respect and love for those guys. They've really done a lot for us. Had we not failed in the Roadrunner days and come out with another album, we probably wouldn't have done that run of touring. Who knows how things would have gone for us? It is what it is. Things that happened, happened for a reason."

Bob: "There were a lot of factors that prevented us from coming out with a record after 'Dawn'. Things may have shot up for a second; then, it could have been the end of the band. You don't know. One thing we've always had for us that was consistent is the struggle. The struggle is real with us. It's what keeps us going. It's what keeps us interested and pushing harder and harder. We have that in us. Because things didn't always go great, I think that's what always keeps me that much more hungry and excited for making new music and touring and getting out there. Our love for the music and passion for it only grows more and more. The struggle helps."

Blabbermouth: And that's one of the key themes of the book: IMMOLATION never had that big selling record, so you've always had to keep your nose to the grindstone, especially in times when death metal was struggling.

Bob: "That gets discussed a lot in the book. It was good to hear in a sense that we knew we were having a hard time. In retrospect, it was, 'Wow, I guess a lot of people were having a hard time, too!' I didn't think we realized what [Metal Blade Records CEO] Brian [Slagel] had to say. We knew things were at a low point at the time, but hearing it from Metal Blade Records, like, 'Things were rough for everyone all over.' It was big to hear that."

Ross: "We felt it at the time. When that third album came out and we were touring in Europe and here for 'Failures For Gods', we felt it. We were like, 'Wow. It seems like the fans are just not there. It's not on fire as it was five years ago.' [Laughs] I think everyone felt it. It was kind of cool to read that assessment from industry people like Brian Slagel and other people who came out and said, 'Yeah, this was a really bad time for underground metal. It was a struggle for everybody.' I don't know…it took some of that pressure off. At the time, we thought, 'Maybe it's just us!' [Laughs] 'Maybe people aren't digging what we are writing.' It didn't stop us, but those were discouraging times, to say the least."

Blabbermouth: Let's wrap with this: Are you thinking of the follow up to "Acts Of God" yet?

Bob: "It's been a hectic couple of years, but yeah, that's our main focus now. We're looking forward to it. We're going to buckle down and get it down. That's definitely needed. We're excited about it. It's coming."

Ross: "We purposely took off the first part of this year just to focus on the record. From now until mid-year, the album will be done. We're already starting to plan out next year. It's in the works."