It’s been five years since Immolation released a new album, but Acts of God is worth the wait. “It’s a lot darker than our most recent records, both musically and lyrically,” vocalist/bassist Ross Dolan tells Apple Music. “The pandemic gave us a lot more time to really craft and absorb these songs.” Eleven albums into a career that began in 1988, this New York death metal institution is still on top of their game. Dolan and his bandmates—original guitarist Bob Vigna, drummer Steve Shalaty, and lead guitarist Alex Bouks—deliver uncompromising brutality and precision with a feel for dynamics that most death metal bands lack. Just don’t ask Dolan to explain his lyrics. “I don’t wanna get too specific, but just to be clear, this is not a pandemic record,” he says. “We just comment on what we see happening around us, and around the world.” Below, he discusses each of the album’s non-instrumental tracks.
“An Act of God”
“Bob suggested this would be a great opening track, and he was spot-on. It doesn’t relent, and it has a lot of really cool elements. It’s got that really weird, creepy acoustic part in the middle that explodes into the big, heavy section. It has moody parts and fast sections—and some great lead work from Bob at the end there.”
“The Age of No Light”
“When I first heard this song, I loved it. We chose this as the second song for the rollout because it’s just a concentrated burst of energy—really fast and aggressive. But it goes to a couple different places, especially in the middle section with that slow, creepy riff with the fast drums behind it. It’s a very dynamic, extreme song. Lyrically, it’s taking a look at humanity’s progress. It seems like every time we take a step or two forward, we always take three steps backwards.”
“Noose of Thorns”
“This was the first song Bob wrote for this record. He sent it to us back in 2018, so this was our first peek at how the album was gonna shape up. It starts very slow, but then explodes right after that. It’s got a lot of cool parts that don’t really repeat. It’s definitely one of the darkest songs on the record. It talks about organized religion and its hold over a lot of people.”
“Shed the Light”
“This is a very unique song compared to the others. The whole beginning, the way the drum patterns were designed—and the super-heavy, weird flow of it—were a selling point for me. As soon as I heard it, I could see it developing into something. I really like the ending, too—that riff is kind of unnerving. It’s also one of the darker songs on the album. It touches on religion again, but a different side of religion.”
“Blooded”
“We debuted this song last summer at the two festivals we did—Psycho Vegas and the Decibel Metal & Beer Festival. We all wanted to play a new track, and we agreed on this one because it’s short and very dynamic. It has all the Immolation elements that I think our fans enjoy—and a really sick midsection. It moves fast, hits hard, and doesn’t relent. Lyrically, it was inspired by a criminology class that I took over the pandemic just to keep sane.”
“Overtures of the Wicked”
“The beginning of this song has an old-school German thrash vibe, almost like early Kreator or Destruction. That’s very different for us. I like how this song moves from section to section, just building in intensity. Then, it explodes at the end into that sick lead section. Lyrically, it’s based on everything that was happening around the world during that time, but specifically here in our country. It’s a very hopeless song.”
“Immoral Stain”
“That’s one of the creepier songs on the record. I love the little acoustic kind of lead-in to the song. It’s got some of my favorite lead work on the record—Alex’s contributions, which are really dark and melancholy sounding here. Lyrically, I stumbled across this really disturbing story during lockdown and got obsessed with it. As I started reading more articles about it, I got inspired to write the lyrics for this.”
“Incineration Procession”
“This was one of the earlier songs as well. I like it because it’s different sounding for us, but still has those cool Immolation elements. It started out much more simplistic in a lot of ways, but Bob built on those basic rhythms and really made it shine. It’s a slow-moving song—very dark and foreboding—but when it gets to that big, epic section midway through, you know it’s gold.”
“Broken Prey”
“That’s probably our drummer’s favorite song on the record. He spent a lot of time crafting the drums to that one, and it’s one of his shining moments. It’s really bombastic with a lot of creepy, heavy sections. I think Steve’s drumwork on the whole record is just next level, but especially on this song. There’s a lot of cool cymbal patterns. It has some great leads by Alex at the end, and it’s kind of a nod to the old school.”
“Derelict of Spirit”
“This was probably the obvious choice for one of the first rollout singles because it’s the only song on the album that’s mid-paced all the way through. It doesn’t have many fast parts. It’s probably the most accessible track on the album—I mean, for an extreme death metal record. But because it was the obvious choice, we kept it back. Lyrically, it’s about hypocrites—people who are very quick to judge, but they never look in the mirror at themselves.”
“When Halos Burn”
“This was one of the last songs written for the record, but it’s a classic, old-school Immolation song. It’s just a burner from start to finish, with a lot of elements from our earlier days—but in a fresh way. I think it’s really well-written, with a lot of intensity. It sounds especially good after ‘Derelict of Spirit,’ which is slower.”
“Let the Darkness In”
“This is one of my favorites just because of the flow of the song. It starts off slow, but it has one of my favorite endings of any Immolation song. We actually had Danny Lilker from Nuclear Assault and Brutal Truth scream with me at the end, going into the last section. It was cool to have him be part of the record, and it worked out perfectly. It’s a more personal song for us, and it has to do with that dark place we all went to during the pandemic. But there’s also more to it than that.”
“Apostle”
“This is another one that was lyrically inspired by the criminology class I took. We actually recorded this song musically back in the day as ‘Fall in Disease’ on the first record. We just didn’t have the ‘Apostle’ concept until now. The lyrics were inspired by a book based on true events that happened in our neck of the woods in New York a while back. It’s another one of my favorites on the record. I’m super happy with this one.”