Immolation

Thrasher Magazine, August, 2003 by Nate Denver

FOR 15 YEARS Immolation has been grinding out death metal songs about the church and gaining fans along the way (including Corpsegrinder, the singer of Cannibal Corpse, who seemed to be wearing nothing but Immolation shirts while on stage for over a year). This summer the band will embark on a national tour with Impaled, Grave, Goat Whore and December to promote their new album Unholy Cult. This is an interview with bass player and vocalist Ross Dolan. He lives in New York and used to dress like a ninja.

What's up with the song "Kingdom Divided"? You like kingdoms?

That song is specifically about the Catholic Church, and how the church is really taking a hit. It's about people seeing the church for what it is and what it has been, and there's a big negative side to it that people just don't want to see. But it could be applied to anything; the songs are very specific in the way we write them, and they're specific to religion, but they can apply to lots of things.

Would you want to be king?

Nab, too many responsibilities being king I like being who I am and struggling a little bit. It keeps you hungry. Having everything will make you lazy and you'll never be satisfied.

You'd rather be a peasant and work your way up?

Yeah, definitely, and it seems like that's the way it's been. At least it gives you a backbone.

Why aren't there more mustaches in metal?

Mustaches? I used to have one! When I was like 17. There's a lot of fuckin' goatees, that seems to be the metal way.

How did that mustache work for you?

It worked alright, that's why it's gone. I lost it like a bad habit. It kinda looked like a real crappy lookin' caterpillar

How did you come to write lyrics about religion?

We weren't brought up in the Bible Belt, but religion did play a small role in all of our lives, so we just drew from that.

And it stays interesting for you?

Yeah, even today It's something that's very relevant in society, whether you want to believe it or not, it's something that affects everybody all across the globe in some form or another, and with this record we're not as specific. In the past we directed our lyrics and our commentary towards Christianity and Jesus Christ only because it was something that we were familiar with, but the newer lyrics are less specific and they really address religions as a whole. That's what our lyrics are, they're just our feelings, whether you agree with them or you don't.

Do your lyrics make your parents sad?

No, not at all. My family's been very supportive of us and they actually love the lyrics, they're very intrigued by what we're saying and they agree with a lot of the stuff. They're very old-school, but very open minded. They raised us the right way

Do you have any weapons?

Sure. I have an old .22 rifle that I've had since I was a kid, then I used to collect a lot of martial arts stuff when I was younger, so I've got a ninja sword and a few hundred different types of throwing stars.

A few hundred?

Yeah. I have a lot, man. Just all kinds of fighting weapons, old kamas and shit like that.

When was the last time you dressed up like a ninja?

I was young, man. I don't know, 13? I had the ninja suit--the whole nine yards--me and Will from Mortician were all into that.

You were friends with Mortician when you were kids?

Yeah! We used to hang out when we were 12 and 13. We used to go out at night with our weapons and just terrorize the neighborhood, just acting like dorks. We'd go out, a group of us, and we'd have matches between all of us. We'd just fight each other, it was pretty cool. We were kids!

How'd you figure out how to play technical metal? Lessons?

I never took lessons. I had a good ear for music. I was really big into Maiden, and I kinda dabbled here and there, nothing serious until we started this band. That's what forced me to become a better player--believe me, there's a lot of room for improvement on my end, but I get better with each release because our stuff gets more intricate and challenging to play.

Have you seen many celebrities?

Not too many. I saw Jackie Mason in The Village one time and he was pretty funny, he made some comment to us--I forgot what it was but he was pretty friendly.

What, because you're long-hairs?

Something to that effect, but it was in good spirits.

For more, check out Immolationdirect.com