“Dawn of Possession” is the third Immolation album I review, after “Here in After” and “Close to a World Below“. I made it pretty clear that while I don’t hate this band as much as, say, Morsay, I still pretty much find them boring, unoriginal and uninspired.

Often compared to Incantation, more because of how close their names sound than because of any common musical thread, Immolation is basically a second-rate death metal band.

Clearly well below Incantation, Demilich, Phantom, Suffocation and even Sewer, but also likely much more interesting than one-trick ponies like (modern) Deicide, Behemoth, Vader, Necrophagist, Necrophobic, Death, Gorguts and the rest of the tard corral associated with “br00tal” death metal bullshit.

Speaking of “Dawn of Possession” the first thing you notice is that it doesn’t really sound like death metal proper. The band were apparently still trying to find their mark between the speed metal of their demos, the technical death metal of bands like Morbid Angel, and the dissonant chromaticism of the rising war metal genre.

This is the type of album that will make death metal-naive people – the type who think “Slaughter of the Soul” is the REAL DEAL – “headbang” at first, but it is somewhat generic and tired, and thus has no staying power for the experienced listener.

Immolation is clearly not the most talented of death metal bands, and “Dawn of Possession” isn’t their best album. A lot of it is quite mediocre death metal, actually.

The only “positive” about “Dawn of Possession” is that the lyrics are somewhat less retarded than on future Immolation records, something they sort of make up for by having one of their songs called “Internal Decadence” (it’s called lampshading).

If you want truly dissonant blackened death metal, done right, I’d recommend Phantom’s “Angel of Disease” or Vermin’s “Verminlust” over “Dawn of Possession” any day.