Kevin Stewart-Panko Discusses His Book ‘Into Everlasting Fire: The Official History of Immolation’

In this interview, Kevin Stewart-Panko discusses the challenges of documenting nearly 40 years of Immolation’s history, a band central to death metal’s evolution, in the book Into Everlasting Fire: The Official History of Immolation, out now via Decibel Books.

Years of research through old magazines and fanzines helped piece together the band’s story, delving into each album’s creation, touring, and the personal and musical growth behind Immolation’s legacy.

What initially inspired you to write the official history of Immolation, and how did the idea for this book come about?

Kevin Stewart-Panko: “Actually, the idea for this book wasn’t even mine! A buddy of mine named Will Tarrant, who is also an old friend of the band, messaged me one day. I think it was around the time Turned Inside Out, the Obituary book and David Vincent’s book were released, and he was basically going off about how so-and-so has books written about them, why not Immolation? He listed out a bunch of reasons he felt Immo’s story should be captured in book form, and because he knew me as a user of fancy written words and that I had become good friends with the band over the previous handful of years, that I should be the one to pen a book about the band.

“Honestly, I wasn’t 100 percent into the idea of doing the book at first; this wasn’t because I disagreed with his reasoning and/or Immolation’s significance. My hesitation was because of the time it would take to do it not to mention my own lack of self-confidence in taking on a project like this. As I’ve said time and again, I’m a very busy, but very lazy man! Will kept hounding me to where I essentially said, ‘If I mention the idea to Albert (Mudrian) at Decibel, will you please get off my back?’ I mentioned the idea to Albert, and Albert was intrigued enough by my recycling of Will’s list of bullet points to ask me to throw together a loose chapter skeleton, which I did, and he was into it.

“At this point, I had the Mudrian advance green for the book, but I was still kind of wishy-washy about the project myself. I might not have all the details correct about the next part of the story, but it went something like this: supposedly, other people had been trying to get Immolation to commit to a chronicling of their history for a number of years and they always turned them down and said no for whatever reasons. At some point after Albert gave me the loose go-ahead, he was in touch with Bob and Ross about an unrelated matter and mentioned Decibel Books had someone who was going to write the Immo story. They still weren’t entirely on board until Albert revealed it was me who was going to author the book and then they were like, ‘Oh, if Kevin’s going to do it, then fuck yeah!’ From my perspective, it was like, all these people believe in me and are trusting me to do this, so I guess I’m doing this!”

‘Into Everlasting Fire’ book cover

Immolation has had such a pivotal role in the development of death metal. How did you approach the challenge of capturing nearly 40 years of their history in such a comprehensive way?

“That was something that I had been chewing my nails about for a while, even when I was putting together the above-mentioned chapter skeleton for Albert. My history and enjoyment of Immolation goes way back, but over the course of those years, my tastes and interests would shift and I’d find myself losing track of the band as I was ensconced in some other musical world. Also, for a three-album stint in the early 2000s, Immolation was signed to France’s Listenable Records and even though they were signed to Century Media for North America for part of that, those albums had shoddy distribution, not to mention the fractured representation on this side of the Atlantic. This made it more difficult to track down their latest albums, information, news and the like in the pre-internet age.

“I was filling in blanks for myself as much as I was telling the story. Basically, the main thrust of the interview process was to get Bob and Ross on the phone together on a regular basis and dive into an interview in which each conversation would tackle one of their albums. We’d discuss everything about the particular record in question: where the band was at leading up to it; writing, recording; touring; everything surrounding that particular year or two of life in Immolation and all the stories and characters involved.

“Before that, we started with discussions about their backgrounds, growing up, discovering music, getting into playing, forming bands, etc. All that was supplemented and augmented by other interviews and stuff from my vast collection of magazines and fanzines to help piece together the band’s historical timeline. I ended up being very glad I kept the boxes and boxes of old metal mags and stuff instead of throwing them out over the years. Research, interviews and whatnot for this was long, ongoing and at times very stressful, but also ultimately enjoyable and incredibly revelatory.”

The band has faced many challenges throughout their career, from difficult record contracts to the collapse of the genre in the 1990s. How did you navigate these tough periods when writing the band’s story?

“They may have been tough periods, but they were part of the band’s story and couldn’t be ignored or glossed over just because they weren’t the most positive of times. These were the time periods and incidents that contributed to the whole ‘whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ theme that underpins so much of the band’s history and the book. The band wasn’t afraid to talk about the tough times and were probably appreciative to be able to speak to, and about, those times with the benefit of hindsight and analysis. Talking to people, people volunteering their own stories, and experiences with the band and the recollections the band themselves had all went into it.

“One thing that was interesting, and something that occurred multiple times when I was writing the book (not just in the discussion of those tough times) was that there were times when I thought I had the whole story down for a particular segment of their career only to have someone add, subtract, confirm or deny a new detail. Or I’d come across something that was spoken of or mentioned in an old magazine interview or news item.

“One of the more frustrating things about this was when, for example, I’d talk to four different people about a particular incident or something that happened and I’d get four different recollections about what happened, when it happened, and why it happened. It’s pretty laughable when I sit back and think about it now, but when I was in the process of trying to be accurate, it did get pretty maddening at times.”

What was it like to conduct interviews with former band members, label owners, and other collaborators? Were there any surprising or revealing stories that came to light during these conversations?

“I spoke to a whole host of friends, people the band had worked with and for, people who had worked for the band and other members from other bands who were loud and proud Immolation fans. These include, in no particular order: Anne Bowman, Nick Storch, Marco Barbieri, Jeff Tandy, Matt Medeiros, Robin Mazen, Mike Syzmanski, Tomas Fiala, Monte Conner, Harris Johns, Andreas Marschall, Brian Slagel, Travis Bacon, Lauren Merle, Danny Lilker, and Paul Orofino as well as members of Blood Incantation, Morbid Angel, Nun Slaughter, Cannibal Corpse, Internal Bleeding, Cephalic Carnage, Gorguts, and Black Anvil as well as everyone else I’m forgetting at the moment.

“As someone who has spent years upon years writing about bands and has done countless interviews in the process, one thing that stood out about doing interviews on the topic of Immolation was how everyone was more than willing to sit down and talk about the band. There was no pulling teeth and I had to do very little convincing to get interviews knocked out. I didn’t have to battle as everyone wanted to share their Immolation memories, stories and recollections, even the people I wasn’t able to because of my own busyness or because things were coming down to the deadline wire.

“After the book was over and done with, I’ve had more than a few people ask, ‘Why didn’t you interview me?’ If that were the case, I’d still be writing it! As far as anything surprising or revealing… that would depend on one’s previous experience with and knowledge of Immolation and I don’t want to throw out a list of spoilers for people who want to go into reading the book cold. There were stories I left out of the book because of space considerations or because I couldn’t figure out how to smoothly squeeze a particular tale into the overall narrative. I also found out about stories and details after the fact that I would have loved to have included in the book.”

Immolation has a distinct sound, marked by Robert Vigna’s dissonant guitar work and Ross Dolan’s intense vocal delivery. How did you describe the evolution of their musical style throughout the years?

“The thing about Immolation is that they’re a band that has never stopped. There has been no hiatus, breakup, reformation, reunion tour or anything like that. I feel this has provided the band with a unique sense of progress where they have played with their own sound from album to album and this has allowed for a quality trajectory that has arguably only gone upward. Of course, there are always going to be people who are all about any band’s first album or demos being the band’s best stuff — a topic that is addressed in the book — but I feel that Immolation is a band that continues to grow and get better.

“My favourite album of theirs is Atonement, which is their tenth and was released in 2017, almost 30 years into their career. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that with their present lineup and focus being the way it is, their best works are still to come.”

The book is filled with personal anecdotes and memories. What was one of the most memorable or unexpected stories that you uncovered while working on this project?

“Again, I want to avoid spoilers, but I found some of the stories about the recording of Here in After to be quite entertaining, especially when I did my own bits of research about why events x, y, and z happened. I’m also glad we were able to tackle the topic of the band’s ex-booking agent and all the controversy surrounding him and them working with him for as long as they did. Honestly, they were hesitant to broach the topic, but during the interview process they explained their side of the story and it was my job to write with fairness and judiciousness. They were happy with how I did it, so I’m happy with how I did it.”

Immolation’s path to success in death metal has been shaped by both their artistry and their ability to navigate the complexities of the music industry. How did you balance these two aspects in telling their story?

“I think it’s a combination of the answer to the above question and the answer to your question about the band’s rough spells. It’s all about taking the story and presenting it so that the details aren’t overwhelming to the reader, but the story makes sense to the narrative flow of the book and the overall history of the band. They’ll be the first to tell you that, until recently, in their dealing with the complexities of the music industry they have had more fail moments than successes. They weren’t ever sugarcoating their mistakes through revisionist history and I definitely wasn’t going to polish any turds. This is one thing that I hope people appreciate about Immolation, the band and the book: the bald honesty about the good and the bad.”

The book includes a forward by Deadguy’s Keith Huckins and a stunning 16-page colour image section. How did you curate the visual elements, and what role do these images play in telling Immolation’s story?

“I had little to nothing to do with the book’s visual elements. That was all designer/layout/art director Mike Wohlberg. I may have submitted a few files and pictures for consideration and a couple of them got used, but much of the imagery comes from Bob and Ross’ personal collections as I understand it. It’s always great fun to look at old-school pictures of people when they were younger, especially in a case like this where I’ve become more familiar on a personal level with the band in the last half-decade.

“Like, I’ll always crack a smile at Ross’ NYDM moustache and be amazed at photos of Bob with hair, because I also used to be someone with questionable long hair before I started shaving myself into cue ball status. And who doesn’t love looking at fliers of shows from 30 to 40 years ago with lineups that would sell out in 30 minutes today, but probably had 30 people in the crowd back in the day?”

What do you hope readers take away from reading Into Everlasting Fire? Are there particular aspects of Immolation’s journey that you believe fans might not fully appreciate until they dive into this book?

“As mentioned above, I hope people appreciate the across-the-board honesty the band and book deliver. This isn’t a story full of any sex, drugs (except for a little weed) and libidinousness; it’s a story of dudes who have done what it takes to be able to play music simply because they love music. The ups and downs Immolation has encountered and endured would have stopped many other bands in their tracks, but these guys keep going for no other reason than they love writing, recording and touring. And this trait extends to myself as well and is probably why we all get along so well and they trusted me to chronicle their story.

“Funny story related to that: I started this book in June three years ago. Aside from preliminary research and getting my ducks in a row, the first interview I did was with guitarist Alex Bouks at the end of June 2022. I delivered the finished manuscript to Decibel Books on July 1st, 2024. I didn’t even see or sign the contract that had all the behind-the-scenes details and particulars in it, including mention of the modest amount of advance money I was to receive until ten days after I finished and submitted the book! I literally worked on this book for two years without a contract, advance payment, knowing what my royalty rate was going to be and anything else real authors and writers likely have worked out long before they type one word.

“I did this book because it was fun talking to my friends about their lives and music and putting it all into some coherent story was something I wanted to do. Maybe I’m an idiot, a terrible business person, not big on self-preservation or all of the above, but my motivations were pure, if not benevolent.”

What was the process of working with Andreas Marschall, Immolation’s cover artist, on the book’s artwork? How does his visual style complement the band’s narrative?

“Those who know Immolation well will notice that the cover art compiles elements from each of the band’s first three albums (Dawn of Possession, Here in After, Failures for Gods), if not their fourth (Close to a World Below), and fifth (Unholy Cult) albums as well. Fairly early on in the process, I interviewed Andreas about his history and his work with the band as part of the overall story. Albert emailed me one day saying that he was going to ask Andreas to draw the cover art and if I liked that idea. I wasn’t sure if that question was a dumb one or a rhetorical one. Of course, I was down! A group email chain was set up with Andreas, Albert, the band and myself and most everyone else left Andreas alone.

“However, of course, my dumb ass had a few ideas that 1. Played into the theme of the band being largely regarded as the ‘Nicest Guys in Death Metal,’ and 2. Stepped outside the box because I’m not someone who is beholden to death metal tropes and nostalgia. But those ideas were quickly dismissed and I let the adults in the room do their thing and the result is awesome. It’s going to be the wallpaper on my phone for a long time.”

In your own words, how would you summarize Immolation’s contribution to the death metal genre, and why do you think they are still such a beloved and influential band after all these years?

“Actually, the final two chapters of the book tackle this topic in depth. So there are a few thousand of my own words examining the band’s influence and taking an educated guess at what the future holds already out there. Again, I’ll try and avoid spoilers, but first and foremost it comes down to the music. Immolation isn’t as big as Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Carcass, et al. partially because of the behind-the-scenes missteps, but mostly because their brand of death metal isn’t as straightforward and populist as the more popular bands. They continue to push boundaries and while each of their records is definitively Immolation, there are challenges and differences from one album to another that make listening to their discography a journey, not an ongoing retread. As for all the other reasons, they’re all in the book.”

Finally, with the book set for release in November, what can fans expect from Into Everlasting Fire that they haven’t seen before, whether in terms of interviews, insights, or rare photos?

“There are interviews with former members who rarely, if ever, have been called upon to discuss their time in Immolation. There are in-depth histories of the background and history of all present members and most of the former members. The entire 16-page colour photo spread is comprised of rare photos and if you ever wanted to know what the band’s family members and crew look like, there are pictures of all those folks in there as well. You’ll also learn a bit about Derechos, the Scion car company, 1970s labour union advertising, the catacombs under Paris and other informational tidbits in addition to expanding your death metal knowledge. Seriously.”