Death metal band Immolation delivered a ferocious and captivating performance at Quantic Pub in Bucharest on June 29th. Originating from Yonkers, New York, and active since 1988, Immolation is renowned for their intense themes of anti-religion, atheism, and societal critique. Following the show, band members Robert “Bob” Vigna and Ross Dolan sat down with us for an interview, reflecting on their storied career, evolving sound, and the passion that drives their uncompromising musical approach.
Immolation at Quantic Pub, Bucharest, on June 29, 2024
Well met! I would like to begin by extending a heartfelt thank you for the interview. Robert, Ross, welcome, once more! Can you share how your passion for metal music began and what pivotal moments led you to venture into the death metal scene?
Robert Vigna: You know how it is: when you’re young, you start exploring music. First, you get into rock bands like AC/DC. Then you discover Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Metallica, and eventually, you find heavier stuff. Along the way, you meet people who are into the same kind of music. This is how we all met. Of course, Ross and I are talking about the 80s. Slayer was out there… and we listened to it. Then, we started listening to Kreator, and it just got heavier from there with bands like Destruction. After that, we got into death metal, and began creating our own music. And… death metal was just starting at that time, so we were, kind of, in that early wave of the genre. We had a couple of death metal bands like Possessed, Death, and Morbid Angel, and we started creating our own material simultaneously with them. Also, it was great to see groups like Morbid Angel releasing albums while you were working on your own. Later, we signed a record deal with Roadrunner Records. It was a cool, cool time! When people were just discovering albums like “Reign in Blood” from Slayer we were already into heavier stuff. So, you know, when people were like, “Wow, Slayer”, we were already familiar with their work, and also we were playing death metal. We were ahead of the curve. Bands like Slayer were just coming into popularity, but we were already exploring something different. Of course, it was different in the beginning, but you know, it was an interesting time because back then, not a lot of people were into it. You had to search for the music, and the people who were fascinated by this genre. On top of that, there was no Internet. So basically, you would write letters in response to little ads you found in magazines. It was like, “Oh, we heard about this group”, so you’d write to the band. Eventually, they’d write back, and send you a demo, and you’d trade demos with them.
Then there were other fans that created magazines. Not all of them were musicians, but they loved the music, and wanted to support it. They made their own magazines, doing reviews and interviews, photocopying, and stapling them together. For example, Andrew Sakowitz, who I was with in Rigor Mortis, had a magazine called “The Chapel”. So he was both, a musician, and an editor.
Ross Dolan: Back then, it was uncharted territory, because, like Bob said, we were coming from bands like Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, of course. That was considered heavy at the time. Then there was the influx of thrash metal, and thrash metal became a thing. We were fond of Nuclear Assault, Stormtroopers of Death (SOD), and Metallica. And then, we were always searching for something heavier. Venom, and Slayer came into the picture. It was a gradual progression. When we started, it was kind of a new thing. It wasn’t as prevalent or well-known as it is today. It was actually frowned upon back then; people were like, “What the fuck are you guys playing? Ugh”. When we started, in 1988, after Rigor Mortis was dissolved, there weren’t many bands. It was a very young scene, and everyone was trying to find their own path, striving to do something original, unique, heavy, aggressive, and dark.
Now, as Bob mentioned, the times made us rely on “snail-mail”. We wrote letters to potential fans, and also to other bands that seemed to share the same ideas. That’s how we got in touch with all the bands that were around at the time: Nihilist, who later became Entombed, Dismember, Autopsy, and Morbid Angel. We were pen pals. That was our internet, and the mail became our means of communication, and spreading the word about our music. It was very different back then. Today, it’s easier because technology has advanced so far. But anyway, that’s the story for us. It was a natural progression, meeting more people who were into heavier music, along with other bands, and fans, and from there, it just took off.
In 1988, after Rigor Mortis dissolved and you formed Immolation, what other challenges did you face as pioneers in the young and evolving metal scene?
Robert Vigna: We were probably our own worst enemy because we were young, and “green”. When we started, we didn’t really have any intentions of putting out records or making a career out of this. We were just 18-year-old kids trying to find something heavier, darker, and more extreme than what was already out there. So, we had to create it on our own. You know, you had your cues. There were bands that we listened to that we really liked and thought, “Wow, that’s awesome, that’s sick, that’s cool, that’s dark, that’s heavy, that’s extreme”. And we just wanted to do something like that, but something different. So, you know, we made a lot of stupid mistakes because we weren’t very savvy with the music business or the industry. However, we were driven, determined, and had a good work ethic. We were good at promoting ourselves and responding to letters. Unfortunately, we were very slow in writing music back then because there was no pressure to come out with a new record. So, we just took our time. It was fun, more like a hobby. Once we started getting interest from record labels, we realized things were becoming serious. We weren’t really prepared for that. When we signed our first record deal back in 1991, that first record came out on Roadrunner Records, which was a big deal for us at the time.
And, you know, we kind of got thrown into this world of professional musicians without knowing much about how the business worked. We never had a manager or anything like that, so we had to learn everything on our own, which meant making a lot of mistakes along the way. Those were our challenges—the business side of things—, and slowly understanding over the years. It took us years and years to grasp how things actually work, but we always learned a little bit with every record.
Ross Dolan: Everyone was in the same boat; every band was learning as they went. There was a really strong community back then. Every band helped each other out. The older New York bands like us, Reverend, Mortician (who was formed right after we formed Immolation), and many others in our area were all very supportive. If we booked a show, we tried to get all our friends on the show. If they booked a show, they tried to include us. It was a community where everyone helped each other out. It was very supportive, you know what I’m saying? In less than no time, we had friends all over the country, and all over the world. We came over to Europe in 1989, the whole band, to meet our friends. We went to Sweden and met the Nihilist guys and Dismember; they were just teenagers back then. We also met Laurent Merle from Listenable Records, who was a pen pal and a friend. We met Mick Harris, the former drummer of Napalm Death, and Barney, who was in Benediction before joining Napalm Death. We traveled to the UK, France, and Sweden on that trip, which we booked on our own when we were about 19 years old. There was no Internet, so we arranged everything through mail, which was kind of crazy, but it worked. So, we engaged in activities like that to explore, meet new people, and make connections. It was cool, fun, and a good time, but also challenging, you know?
Why, of course! Such times have certainly shaped your friendships. And… you know what? I’d like us to delve deeper into this bond. How have you managed these dual aspects of band dynamics over the years, and what has been the key to maintaining unity and cohesion in Immolation?
Ross Dolan: Well, doing what we do is very unique because we’re living together, we’re traveling together, we’re waiting at airports for hours, and hours, and hours. So, you know, sometimes, it could bring out the worst in people. Nobody’s perfect. We have our little spats, and disagreements, and arguments, and sometimes we blow up at each other, but we know it’s not serious. And at the end of the day, it’s probably better off to get that off your chest. But all in all, we get along really well. I mean, we rarely have any kind of issues like that. We’re all pretty low key. Nobody’s a big partier, nobody’s a big drinker. Literally nobody in this band is like that. Everybody’s just very chill; there are no big partiers. We’re here for the love of the music and for what we do.
Robert Vigna: We’re all just concentrating on the music, the performance, and how we can make it better, you know? We’re all on the same level, I think, and it’s the camaraderie. We get along, and share the same goals. We enjoy what we’re doing. We’re glad to be out here, although, like Ross said, longer trips or flying for every show for three weeks in a row can be challenging. But we get through that; it’s the tougher part. When it comes down to it, once we’re on stage, and doing the shows, it makes it all worth it. We just love what we do, and I think that’s the key. You have to enjoy what you’re doing, and have a good time with it; otherwise, you shouldn’t be out here. We all enjoy it, and I hope that comes across on stage because we genuinely love this, as you can probably tell.
Yes, the fans can clearly perceive it. Furthermore, the passion is distinctly reflected in your numerous songs, all delivered in an exceptionally professional manner. Considering your diverse musical journey spanning from your early ‘88 Demo to recent releases like “Acts of God” in 2022, I’m curious: which song from your entire body of work holds the most significance or plays a very important role in your life?
Ross Dolan: I would say “Immolation” because that was the first song I learned how to play. Bob came over to my house in February 1988, shortly after I joined the band. He sat down with me and said, “Alright, I’m going to show you the first song”. That was the song I learned. You know, that song was the first one we recorded for our first demo in 1988. We recorded “Immolation” and “Dawn of Possession”. There were two songs on that demo. So, that song in particular was the first one I learned for this band, and wrote the lyrics for.
Robert Vigna: Yeah, I’d agree with that because “Immolation” was the first thing people ever heard from this band. And you know, the first demo—we’ll never forget it. We started getting mail from different parts of the world. Someone from Italy even sent us a cassette. We put it on, and it was someone doing a radio show in Italian. At first, we didn’t understand the hosts. Then they said “Immolation”, and played our song. It was like, “Wow, they’re playing us on the radio in Italy! Wow”. Back then, that was pretty cool, you know? That was in 1988.
We still enjoy playing “Immolation” today. It’s a classic that always finds its way back into the setlist because we love it, and the fans do too. We even re-recorded it for Decibel Magazine when “Atonement” came out. Harris Johns, who produced our first record, worked on that song with us again. It was a great experience to revisit it with our modern lineup, with Steve on drums. It was awesome. So yeah, it’s been very cool to see the journey of that song over the years.
Steve Shalaty performing at Quantic Pub, Bucharest, on June 29, 2024
“Immolation” is a killer song, no wonder it always finds its way back into the setlist. Staying on the topic of tunes, which other masterpieces do you enjoy performing live on stage?
Robert Vigna: I always find myself gravitating towards some of the newer songs as my favorites, just because they’re fresh, and exciting for us to play. Right now, I’m really enjoying performing a lot of the newer tracks. Of course, this time around, we also had a blast revisiting some of the older ones. Take a song like “Nailed to Gold” from our second record—it’s one we play occasionally, but this time we really nailed it, and got it down tight. It took us a while to hone it to that level, so we were genuinely excited about it and had a lot of fun with it.
It’s cool how some songs you might give a break for a while, and then when you bring them back, they feel fresh again. With our extensive discography and over a hundred songs to choose from, crafting a setlist is always challenging. We aim to mix it up, playing both fan favorites and deeper cuts. We’re never stuck playing the same songs every show; there’s always variety.
But if you come to see us, the set might be completely different from what you would expect because we’re always pulling out different stuff. So that’s the cool part, you know, and I think we have a good selection of songs that work live. Sometimes we go back to them, and say, “Nah, it’s not really a good song for the stage. It’s a great song, but not for live performance”. So, that happens a lot. But you know, I think on this tour in particular, we really tried pulling out some different ones. And then we’re doing a show for Decibel Magazine in the United States. They’re celebrating their 20th anniversary on August 31st. We’re going to perform songs exclusively from our first four records, like three songs from each of those albums. It’s cool because we’re resurrecting a couple of songs we haven’t played in a while.
Robert Vigna performing at Quantic Pub, Bucharest, on June 29, 2024
Ross Dolan: I agree with Bob. I always enjoy playing our most recent material because it’s fresh, you know? Tonight, we played a couple of songs like “Internal Decadence” and “Into Everlasting Fire”. I mean, we’ve been playing those songs for like 35 or 36 years, so they’re fun to play, but not as enjoyable as the newer songs. The newer ones are always a bit more challenging, and unique compared to the old stuff. So, I lean towards playing the newer material because we want to promote the new stuff.
But we also like mixing it up with the old songs. The reason we do that is to avoid playing the same ones over and over again. We try to surprise people with songs they wouldn’t expect or ones they’ve been hoping to hear. To repeat ourselves, as Bob mentioned. We spend a lot of time selecting the right songs for each tour or run so that it stays fresh. It can be a challenge because, like my band mate said, some songs don’t fit well in a live setting; they’re more like songs you’d listen to on headphones.
For example, in an upcoming show, as Bob mentioned, we’re revisiting songs like the title track of our second record, “Here in After”, which is a long, and somewhat weird song. It’s been fun to relearn and rehearse it because we haven’t played it since 1997. Jumping back into it feels a bit strange at first, but rehearsing together before coming here, it felt good. We were actually inspired to revisit that song after a Canadian band covered it two years ago, and put it on an EP. Their version was really impressive, even better than ours. We heard their version, and were like, “Wow, that’s fucking great. They did it better than we did”. So, we decided to relearn that song, and we did. It was fun. Anyway, as long as you live, you learn.
Ross Dolan performing at Quantic Pub, Bucharest, on June 29, 2024
Indeed! As we segue into discussions about performances how was your experience being back in Romania for this recent event?
Robert Vigna: Oh, awesome, great show. We were thrilled to be here again. And yeah, we always loved coming to Romania. The city was fantastic, the crowd was amazing, and Quantic Pub was just awesome—it’s such a great place. I won’t even mention the way we were welcomed, with Stella, the dog, being part of the welcoming committee. We love Stella. So yeah, we had an incredible time. Hopefully, we’ll be back soon.
Ross Dolan: The vibe from the audience was unexpected. We weren’t sure what to anticipate, especially during this downtime between festivals. Sometimes these shows can be unpredictable because people are saving up their money to attend festivals like Brutal Assault, Rockstadt Extreme Fest, or whatever is happening at the time. In Europe, people often travel, and make a budget for these festivals. So having a crowd like tonight’s, especially for a one-off show, was fantastic. The local bands were killer, with really nice guys, and great musicians. And yeah… we love Stella! It was a great night. No complaints.
Immolation’s presence at Quantic Pub, Bucharest, on June 29, 2024
Alex Bouks performing at Quantic Pub, Bucharest, on June 29, 2024
You’ve had the opportunity to perform on stages ranging from smaller venues like Blondie’s in Nyack, New York, to larger festivals such as Hellfest and Rockstadt Extreme Fest. You also had a killer show in Bangalore, India that was recorded on Youtube. Reflecting on this spectrum of experiences, which festival stands out to you as the greatest or most memorable, and why?
Robert Vigna: We’ve been lucky. I mean, there have been a lot of great times. Festivals are always good, no matter what they are. We’ve had incredible shows at Hellfest, and festivals like Rockstadt Extreme Fest, and Brutal Assault have been so intense and memorable. We’ve played there so many times, and every single show has been incredible.
Europe, in general, has been really special for us. We’ve had some of our favorite shows here over the years. It’s hard to pick just one because there have been so many that stand out as truly exceptional. And then… there are other places around the world. The vibe is always cool, especially when we venture into new territories. Like, I know that a show we had in India was one of our most memorable shows for sure. That was in Bangalore. We had played at a festival there with Overkill in 2018, I believe. Then we went back and did a one-off show in Bangalore while traveling around Asia. This time it was just a club show, and it was even more insane than the festival. It was just incredible. I mean, somebody’s got it on YouTube, and the whole show is just nuts from beginning to end!
Ross Dolan: Yeah… It was reminiscent of shows from the 80s. There was a different vibe back then. You know, the shows in the 80s were insane, or even in the early 90s. Our first tour in Europe was in ‘91. We came over supporting Massacre, who were headlining from Florida, along with Morgoth. At the time, it was one of the biggest tours to go through Europe. We didn’t know it was going to be that big. It was our first tour so were like, “Cool! Massacre”, we were so excited about Massacre. We were big fans of both—Death and Massacre—, back then, so we eagerly jumped at the opportunity. It was insane. Every venue was sold out, and the crowds were just wild every night, starting from the moment we hit the stage—it was pure insanity. So yeah, it was a different vibe back then, but I agree with Bob. Bangalore, India, was an incredible experience. South America, too—places like Colombia and Chile, where we had some of our biggest headlining shows, especially in Santiago, Chile, the first time we played there. That was amazing. Brazil, as well. Mexico… All those countries… they’re just insane, somewhat reminiscent of Eastern Europe. Places like Poland and the Czech Republic have this insane vibe, very cool. And Europe as a whole is great, depending on when you hit it. The States have gotten better too. We’ve been fortunate to be on some fantastic tours in recent years, supporting bands like Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, Obituary, and Carcass. All those tours were phenomenal in the US. So yeah, I think the extreme metal scene has really reached a high point, almost reaching the next level in terms of excitement, enthusiasm, and the number of fans it attracts. It is very encouraging for us.
As you continue to evolve in the extreme metal scene, what can your fans expect from Immolation in terms of new music or upcoming projects?
Ross Dolan: Well, they can expect us to deliver, you know, quality music like we’ve always tried to deliver. I mean, we have our own standards, you know? Like Bob said, when we go into writing new material, I don’t think we necessarily try to outdo what we’ve done before. We just try to create something that’s new, fresh, and unique, but still very much Immolation. You know, we try never to lose sight of where our roots were and where we’ve gone. We strive to keep the essence of the band the same while still trying to create something fresh. It’s kind of a hard act to juggle, you know what I’m saying? It’s a hard balancing act to try to keep those two things on point while you’re creating new stuff. So, that being said, what Bob creates musically is what comes out. You can’t force it, you know what I’m saying? As he’s creating stuff, we’re like, “Wow, that’s really cool. Maybe we could work on that a little more or whatnot”. But I gotta say, probably 95% of the time, what he delivers is spot on, you know? So I have faith in him.
As we approach the end of our conversation, what message would you like to share with your fans?
Robert Vigna: We just want to express our appreciation for being here tonight, and for all the support you’ve given us over the years. We want you to know that we’re always going to do our best. We’re aiming to get a new record done soon. Again, we sincerely thank you for your support over the years. Tonight’s show was a pleasure for all of us—we genuinely enjoy performing, and value your support. We look forward to seeing you again soon. We’ll be back in Europe in September, and October with Cannibal Corpse, and Municipal Waste for the Schizophrenia tour. It may not hit this particular city, but hopefully, it will be nearby. You can check it out. It’s going to be a great tour, and we’re thrilled to be back on a full European tour after a while. Our fans are the best—loyal, supportive, kind, and generous. We’re incredibly fortunate in that regard.
Ross Dolan: Our fans are the reason we’re here tonight. We wouldn’t be here if they didn’t come out, and show their love. So yeah, man, that’s the most important part for us. We always express our gratitude to our fans at every show, every night, whenever we can. I think our fans know we’re the real deal with no BS. We are true here, and our fans know that. Alright, thank you very much. I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with my words. Thank you very, very much.
We, Din Întunerec, too, sincerely thank you for sharing such wonderful stories tonight.
Robert Vigna: Thank you!
Ross Dolan: Thanks a lot for your time!
Immolation at Quantic Pub in Bucharest on June 29, 2024
