REVIEW "INTO EVERLASTING FIRE -THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF IMMOLATION"

With “Into everlasting fire”, Kevin Stewart-Panko presents the official 450 pages long band biography of Immolation, one of the longest-serving and for many probably one of the best death metal bands on the planet. First of all, it should be mentioned that this work is one of the best, if not the best and most interesting band biography I have read, and I have read quite a few, such as those of Obituary, Paradise Lost, Necromantia, Rotting Christ, Hellhammer / Celtic Frost, Behemoth, Kreator or Tankard to name but a few.

First of all, let me mention my personal connection to the band; the first album I bought was the “Here in After” album (which I remember scoring just 6 out of 10 in the German Rock Hard magazine, but more on that topic later), which I bought during my civilian service in the former German capital Bonn as an adolescenct. A year later, in 1999, I went to Wacken for the first (and last) time and as the author describes, Immolation were supposed to play in Wacken in 1999, but due to visa issues this didn't happen until 2016, 17 years later; the band was also in muddy Wacken in 2023. So unfortunately I've never seen the band live, more on the band's live presence later. 

REVIEW SICKENING GORE "DESTRUCTIVE REALITY"

This time I would like to present you the only album of the Swiss death metal band Sickening Gore. This band from Zurich, which previously went by the name Reactor, released "Destructive Reality" on Massacre Records in 1993, only to disband a short time later. I still remember a review of a concert in a big German metal magazine, the band played in Zurich as support of Carcass. A review in the then issue of Metal Hammer compared the band stylistically to Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse. This is quite accurate, even if the world class of the compositions of Morbid Angel could not be reached, but which band can claim this? Nevertheless, the band varied on their only album skillfully between high-speed bludgeoning, grindcore influences and dragged parts. 

INTERVIEW ABSTRACTYSS

In the depths of the world wide web I came across the Bavarian death metal band Abstractyss, which weaves brutal and technical death metal with atmospheric elements into a coherent whole. Read here what the band from the city of three rivers Passau has to say.

Hello, please tell the readers of Systematic Desensitization Zine something about your band history. A short outline, who, when, where you formed. How exactly did you come up with the band name, which sounds quite unusual at first. An abstract hell so to speak?