Recommended: CIRITH UNGOL

As the title picture suggests, I'm dedicating an entire Journal to one single band, the thrash-y doom and power metal revelation known as...

Cirith Ungol

For those unlettered in Sindarin* ( or "Grey Elvish"), Cirith Ungol, the band's namesake, means "the cleft of the spider" or "the spider's pass" and is a reference to Shelob aka "the middle finger of God":

And, yes, there is both a kick ass song dedicated explicitly to Shelob, as well as The Tower of Cirith Ungol. 'Shelob's Lair' features on the album, 'Half past Human'.

The band's first outing, 'King of the dead' is an all-killer-no-filler fist-pumping 'Fuck, yeah!' foundry. It's nothing but head-bangers from start to finish, the best of the bunch being, in my personal estimate, the eponymous 'King of the Dead'; with 'Black Machine' and 'Finger of Scorn' ranking respectably second and third. There are no bad songs on this album, to clarify, there are only good songs and great songs, with the "worst" being just the blatantly filler-tastic 'toccata in d-minor' aka "that shit in every 'Phantom of the Opera' movie, that everyone thinks is from the movie but really isn't". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ESx4mr2Hu8 It's not "bad", it's just cloying in its utter lack of originality or thematic relevance; it doesn't add anything or compliment anything before or after it; it's just, well, there, wedged awkward before the closing song on the album. It's a great cover, if you're into classical music like Bach (to whom I'm ignorant and, frankly, indifferent), but if you're looking for a tone as heavy and bleak as a black hole in space, it's awkward and just...really indulgent; like, seriously: it's *checks the song's time signature* about five minutes; so five minutes of pointless noise practically designed to be skipped. Regardless it's a near-perfect album and a fitting introduction to the band's  sword and sorcery aesthetic.

'King of the Dead' CIRITH UNGOL

I've listened (often extensively) to three other albums in the band's discography, those being 'Half Past Human', 'Frost and Fire' and 'Forever Black'.

 It's difficult, admittedly, for me to quality 'Half Past' Human'. Because of my job, I need bands that aren't hit-or-miss, so I can avoid, when I'm cleaning bathrooms, constantly sanitizing and re-re-sanitizing my hands so I can poke the skip button on my phone. The result--because I can't easily pick-and-choose tracks--is I don't entirely know what songs are good on a given album, even if I love the album itself. The songs, even on amazing albums kind of just blur together into one head-banging gestalt; so, it's actually a testament to how kickass 'King of the Dead' is that I not only know the songs (most of them) by name, but I recognize (and relish) their individual riffs. My point? 'Half Past Human' is all of four songs long and the only song I can name is 'Shelob's Lair' because it's far and away the best song on the album. But it's still a great album; with top shelf cover art.**

'Fire and Frost' is also difficult to review.

It's difficult to review because I've yet to listen to the whole album, front to back, aaand that's because 'Fire and Frost' is an experiment. It's more hard rock oriented, with Tim Baker opting for more melodic vocalisms, aaaaand they do nothing for me, personally. There's no specific offender, here, and I'm not disdainful or dismissive of 'Fire and Frost'; it's not a bad album, far from it. It's just not what I want from Cirith Ungol, which is an infernal snarl paired with brooding doom metal fret-craft. I wanted Candlemass, not Zeppelin worship. (And I say that as a massive Zeppelin fan boy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I8F7ZdFOmk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogl16QSw6aY .) If you're curious about the band, but the doom metal turns you off, 'Fire and Frost' is (to my ears) a wink to the fantastical flourishes of 70's hard rock and heavy metal. Not bad, just not I want, personally.

'Forever Black' however...?

I will be a sloppy bitch and say 'Stormbringer' is my favorite fucking song on this album, because it's amazing, because it's a direct Elric reference, and I do not apologize for that, but there are no bad songs on 'Forever Black'. No, like 'King of the Dead' there are only good songs and great ones. 'Legions Arise' being my second favorite for it's Dick-Dale-adjacent fret-work.

Cirith Ungol are a band that tout melody and brutality in equal measure, swimming in its sword and sorcery lineage, and, like Iced Earth and Powerwolf, it adds further texture to "power metal" aka "fantasy metal".

CIRITH UNGOL! Listen to that shit ASAP!

*And why would you be? There are colleges that offer Tolkein's Elvish as an elective, buuut, yeah: who the fuck takes that class with a straight face? Is it objectively more useful than name-a-social-studies-and-or-communications class? Yeah, but so's competitive whistling. Said the guy with two degrees, one in General Art and the other in Screenwriting, who spent years breast-stroking through Marxist bullshit because of his Humanities majors.

**Of course  Cirith Ungol swiped it from 'Weird of the White Wolf', a novel about Elric of Melnibone and his exploits as a spell-sword mercenary, the front cover of which depicts Elric gorging on a soul with his demon blade, Stormbringer.  https://www.amazon.com/weird-white-wolf-MICHAEL-MOORCOCK/dp/0586062319/ref=pd_sbs_3/143-1650401-4257828?pd_rd_w=vGNUG&pf_rd_p=0f56f70f-21e6-4d11-bb4a-bcdb928a3c5a&pf_rd_r=QV7RKZG9C0EBKXKN4C3M&pd_rd_r=1bf3f21e-c4f3-490b-8377-f7254e03f021&pd_rd_wg=SUDki&pd_rd_i=0586062319&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/Elric-Weird-White-Roy-Thomas/dp/0915419874/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=weird+of+the+white+wolf&qid=1630557545&sr=8-3

FYI: 'Cirith Ungol' is absolutely aware of Elric of Melnibone and  the Eternal Champion mythos, adopting its iconography and referencing its content. To the point they posed for a picture right in front of the Moorcockian symbol for the Forces of Chaos.

They know what they're doing, is what I'm sayin'; so 'No hate!' just giving credit where its due.  I absolutely love Cirith Ungol's fetish for Elric's iconography, because when I wear a Cirith Ungol t-shirt people point and say, 'That shit's metal, who's that dude with the sweet ass sword!'; and that's when I tell them 'Elric!'; and then, if they ask 'Who's Elric? I say something like, 'Do you like 'Vampire Hunter D? Elric inspired him.'; or, 'Do you like 'Sandman'? Elric inspired that, and Neil Gaiman said so.'; or, 'You like Marvel? When Marvel published Conan, Elric was his contemporary; they teamed up!"; or 'You like David Bowie? Blue Oyster Kult? Deep Purple? Motorhead? Blind Guardian? They're all huge fans of Elric.'; or, 'You like DnD? Elric inspired the Drow and, without him, you don't have the Multiverse.'

That's how you spread a story as iconic and criminally undervalued as the Eternal Champions. You show first, then you tell.