Reviews list for Cirith Ungol - Forever Black (2020)

After a short intro track, Cirith Ungol's comeback after nineteen years since Paradise Lost was released, kicks off with a bang and a slice of hi-octane speed metal, Legions Arise, which acts like a slap in the face to make sure they have our attention before we get into the meat of the album. The rest of the album is of a slower tempo, more in keeping with the trad metal / doom sound the band were once well-known for. Tim Baker's vocals are still the main sticking point for me, but are probably less of a problem on this album than any of their previous releases.
Overall an enjoyably epic, lovingly ridiculous album of good old traditional metal that doesn't sully the band's legacy at all, unlike so many who return after a lengthy gap between releases. Great to have a new Elric album cover too!

As most of you know, I am a giant sucker for throwbacks to the classic heavy metal sounds of Black Sabbath. And with this new album from Cirith Ungol, they have taken the Black Sabbath sound and turned it into something a little heavier, and modern, but still effective nonetheless.

This group has been around for a long time, but Forever Black is the bands first full length album in nearly thirty years! And this band has learned a lot since the early nineties in their sound. For one, the hooks are much more grounded than previously and the compositions are very well put together. The transitions between sections are fluent and smooth. The instrumental parts are quite solid, splitting the difference between riffage and melodic interplay. The bass work is mostly very well done and the vocals are howling and powerful, but are probably the albums weakest feature. It is nice to hear some harsher vocals screeches instead of Ozzy-esque vocals, but they can be a little too much at times.

Between albums like Spirit Adrift's Divided By Darkness and this new one by Cirith Ungol, it is safe to say that this revival/modernization of the traditional doom metal sound is very much alive and fruitful. I can easily see this album growing on me further in the coming months, as Spirit Adrift did last year.