Review by Daniel for Cirith Ungol - Frost and Fire (1981)
Cirith Ungol are a five-piece heavy metal outfit that originally formed in Ventura, California way back in 1972 but they didn’t get around to releasing their debut album “Frost & Fire” until nine years later in January 1981. For those that are unfamiliar with the books (which should be no one in all honesty), the band name is taken from the Lord Of The Rings where Kirith Ungol was the Elvish name of the “Pass Of The Spider”. The band mispronounced it as “sirith” instead of the intended “kirith” & have stuck with the incorrect pronunciation to this day. They've since admitted to having some feelings of regret about taking on a band name that is so difficult to pronounce & remember with some fans calling them “Sarah’s uncle” or “serious uncool”.
“Frost & Fire” sounds considerably different to Cirith Ungol’s later albums which were slower, doomier & more complex. In fact, the band have admitted that they made a conscious decision to release their most commercially accessible material first up in an attempt to pick up an early fanbase. When they failed to get any radio play for the album they decided to go for broke on future recordings. Cirith Ungol’s sound on “Frost & Fire” is firmly rooted in 70’s hard rock with Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin & Budgie being obvious points of reference but there's also a strong psychedelic edge to a lot of the material & progressive rock was certainly an influence. They do tend to remind me of fellow US heavy metallers Manilla Road at times.
The production is pretty poor & does impact on my enjoyment of the album. The rhythm guitars are nowhere near loud enough which minimizes the metal credentials of the album overall. To my ears, early Cirith Ungol comes across as more hard rock than metal for the most part but I suspect that this might not have been the case if the rhythm guitars were fuller & louder. The bass guitar on the other hand is probably TOO loud & the overall production is far too loose which contributes to an impression of the band lacking in cohesion. For this reason, I wasn’t surprised to learn that the band produced & financed the whole release themselves.
Instrumentally, I really enjoy the interesting guitar solos & bass lines. Especially when things get a little more psychedelic & progressive. Vocalist Tim Baker is certainly something very different. He has very little in the way of classical vocal skills & possesses a whiny shriek that sits somewhere between Axl Rose, Geddy Lee & Robert Plant, only not in a good way. It may take you some time to get used to his unique brand of delivery.
The striking album cover features Michael Whelan’s stunning portrait of Elric of Melnibone (taken from Michael Moorcock’s Elric series of novels) holding the Stormbringer sword high above his head & it’s obviously directly towards a swords & sorcerers fantasy theme however I can’t help but think that it doesn’t really suit the band’s sound at this stage.
I like what the band is trying to achieve but feel that they come up well short due to their production & musical shortcomings. There are a couple of really solid numbers scattered across the tracklisting however with instrumental closer “Maybe That’s Why” being the clear highlight (perhaps due to the fact that we don’t have to contend with Tim’s vocals). When taken holistically though, I’ve always found “Frost & Fire” to be some pretty tough listening.