IMMOLATION - Dawn of Possession (R/C - LP 1991)
“…Enthroned upon their praise, dethroned with
my disgust, unworthy of your glory you turn your back on me…”
The sky is burning, when the red mixes with the
yellow in the horizon, but the closer it is, the blacker and darker it becomes.
Divine, white and majestic figures descent from the skies in the great number,
beautiful in their long white robes and wings... But from the below an equal
number of something more sinister and evil comes with a great speed. The fallen
angels; demons, with red eyes, black skin and wings attack the divine
mercilessly… none of the sides flee… the war is on.
This is what you can see on the front cover of
Immolation’s classic debut album “Dawn of Possession”. I am writing this review,
but I believe that everybody, who claims to be a death metal maniac, has this
LP in his collection, as in my honest opinion this album belongs to the most
mandatory death metal releases of all time. If you’re into this music you just
MUST HAVE such LPs as “Altars of Madness” and “Blessed Are the Sick”, “Scream
Bloody Gore” and “Leprosy”, “Left Hand Path” and “Like an Every Flowing Stream”,
“Deicide” and “Cause of Death”, plus a couple dozens of albums more, which I
consider to be eternal, obligatory classics. And “Dawn of Possession” is
certainly among them. This LP, released back in 1991, shows a band, which
managed to distinguish themselves from the rest of scene, but at the same time
stayed faithful to its roots and created a 100% pure death metal album. How
have they achieved this? Well, I guess a lot of credit must go to Robert Vigna,
who turned out to be one of the most talented and skilled death metal
guitarists of all time. He has an incredible gift to compose and play riffs,
which are almost hypnotising and possessing (he!) and which may be quite
complex and technical, with some twisted solos here and there, but still the
effect is beyond imagination and definitely allows me to say that thanks to
this guitar maestro Immolation had a characteristic, unique sound and style
since the inception of the band. And this is something not so common… It is
enough to watch this man play on the stage, how he behaves and performs to know
he’s not a typical death metal guitar player. And “Dawn of Possession” for sure
has some of the best material, which he has composed in his career. Those
riffs, which you’ll find on this album, are just gigantic. This is a monolith death
metal, a powerful and majestic record. And then you have a great drumming from
Craig Smilowski, who plays some unique and complicated patterns. His technique
is just fantastic… And finally we have Ross Dolan. Well, his bass playing may
be totally overshadowed by the Vigna’s (and Wilkinson’s) powerful guitar
riffing, but if he isn’t one of the most characteristic and vicious death
growlers ever, then I will eat my shoes. Damn, he sounds like a beast from the
underworld, screaming some unreadable words in the pits, so netherworldly his
voice sounds.
I know that the musicians will always say that
their new album is the best, etc, but fans will always have different opinion
and quite often (in 99% of cases hehe??) they’ll say that the first couple of
albums are the best. I am the same and even if I have all Immolation releases
and like them all, I will always say that “Dawn of Possession” is their best LP
and one, which has some of the best songs, which this band recorded and
composed. Starting with excellent “Into Everlasting Fire” – a song, which can
be played on my funeral, if my family will decide to cremate me and which has
some utterly excellent riffs, through such anthems as “Those Left Behind” (oh,
that amazing opening theme… fuckin love it!) to the final seconds of
“Immolation - “Dawn of Possession” is a complete record, filled with amazing
songs, killer riffs and ideas and amazing feeling. It’s also filled with fury
and blasphemous, evil atmosphere. I guess not everyone will be instantly hooked
by the progressiveness of this album, as in many ways “Dawn of Possession” is
not an easy listen. This music is not as straight forward and “catchy” as
“Altars of Madness”; those riffs and song structures will sound bizarre in the
first impression, because of their complexity and frequent rhythm changes (oh,
that Smilowski!), but once you listen to it again and again – and you’ll give
it repetitive listens, as this music is just possessing –I bet this will all
make sense to you and you’ll start catching every part, every riff and phrase
without any problems. All in all “Dawn of Possession” is probably the catchiest
and easiest to listen to of all Immolation albums anyway hehe! For example I
think that “Here In After” requires much more attention than the debut and
that’s because it is not only based on the complex structures, but Immolation
also have more easier and straight forward, more memorable moments, like that
opening theme of “Those Left Behind”, which is just incredibly great!
And maybe it is a good thing that this album
has to grown on you. I mean I don’t think that I liked it as much back in the
early 90’s as I do nowadays. Obviously I had it in my collection (on a pirate
Polish tape hehe) and have listened to it, but there were albums, which I
listened and liked more like “Leprosy” for instance. And nowadays I think I can
say that I like “Dawn of Possession” more than “Leprosy” (which on the other
hand nowadays is slightly boring to me… I guess I just know it too well and I’ve
listened to it too many times hehe!). So, if you’ve never heard “Dawn of
Possession” and want to hear one of the most significant death metal records of
all time, then just give it a go, don’t hesitate.
“You are Jesus, you are lord. Imperfect god, you
are nothing to me. For this you say I'll burn for all eternity...”
Standout tracks: “Those Left Behind”, “Into
Everlasting Fire”, “No Forgiveness”, “Dawn of Possession”, “After My Prayers”
Final rate: 95/100
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