Review by Sonny for Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead (1984)
I was originally attracted to Cirith Ungol's 1984 release by the random coincidence that the cover art was the same Michael Whelan painting as that of a paperback issue of Michael Moorcock's Elric novel The Bane of the Black Sword, a fantasy series of which I was a huge fan at the time (and must admit, still am to this day). Initially, I confess, I wasn't exactly sold on the Californians' brand of epic heavy metal, but as the years have passed they are a band I have become increasingly fond of, whose new releases I greet with some anticipation and whose earlier discography I have positively re-evaluated.
The reason for my original reticence, I'm sure you have guessed, was Tim Baker's high-pitched vocal delivery. In much the same way as King Diamond, Baker's vocals are a bit divisive. His pitch isn't as falsetto as King's as he does mitigate it by having a rough, rasping edge to his voice which is more obvious the lower he sings, but it is still a style that doesn't hold universal appeal. However, I have now become used to his vocal eccentricities and actually I appreciate the fact that they differentiate the band from the pack.
Anyway, Cirith Ungol play epic heavy metal that has it's roots in classic Sabbath and the NWOBHM. For some reason they are often associated with the traditional doom metal scene and while some of their tracks are kind of slow and the guitars are downtuned, I don't think that association really holds up to close scrutiny as this is most definitely first and foremost heavy metal. King of the Dead is the follow-up to 1981's Frost and Fire, itself only being released after the band had been in existence for a decade, and sounds very much like a band who know what they are about and are happy with their own identity. King of the Dead exudes confidence and a "this is us, fuck you if you don't like it" attitude that I wholeheartedly applaud. Although album opener Atom Smasher isn't the greatest introduction to the album, being one of the weaker tracks, there are some absolute killers on here that any fan of 1980's heavy metal should lap up - Master of the Pit, Cirith Ungol, the speedy Death of the Sun and best of the lot the title track, King of the Dead.
The riffs are titanic and the late Jerry Fogle cranks out some great solos. The rhythm section drives the tracks along and feature quite prominently, particularly Flint's bass which takes a lot of influence from the great Geezer Butler. The production is fine, although I certainly wouldn't call it pristine, it does add a certain character to the album. The only real bummer for me was the misguided inclusion of a metal interpretation of J.S. Bach's Toccata in Dm which sounds incredibly self-indulgent. Luckily they don't close the album on that note, but follow it with the mighty Cirith Ungol, an epic closing track that does the whole album preceding it justice.
Whilst not exactly an underground band, I feel Cirith Ungol don't always get the respect they deserve as part of the 1980's metal scene and King of the Dead should be required listening for anyone purporting to be a real fan of heavy metal.
Comments (1)
Nice review Sonny. I thought you might be interested to read what I said about the musicianship & instrumentation of this record on episode 17 of the Metal Academy podcast:
"Look I’ve really been quite looking forward to discussing what’s going on with “King Of The Dead” musically because whether you think it’s the best release or not it’s unquestionably the most interesting record we’ve discussed today from an artistic point of view Ben. Cirith Ungol certainly don’t conform to the generic 80’s model of NWOBHM-influenced heavy metal & there’s a lot more to them than the commonly utilised verse/chorus song structure standard we hear so often. The band were clearly still heavily influenced by the early 1970’s & I wasn’t surprised at all to read that some of this material actually dates back to Cirith Ungol’s early days in the middle of that decade. Where “Frost & Fire” had packaged all of the band’s more commercially accessible material together, “King Of The Dead” heads down a completely different road with a substantially more doomy but no less progressive take on heavy metal. Drummer Robert Garvin has a truck-load of swing to his playing in a similar way to Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward & his slightly jazzy approach to heavy metal drumming is a breath of fresh air. He’s always doing something interesting with his use of ride cymbal & snare rolls being particularly impressive & he somehow finds a way to make some of the less structured & progressive songs like the band’s title song work when they really had no right to. He’s obviously a pretty talented musician. Bass player Flint puts in my favourite performance of the record though & it’s not just because he takes an unusually up-front position in the mix either. I’ve read a lot of people talking about how he’s always playing something completely different from Jerry Fogle & that he rarely sticks with the theme of the riffs but that’s bullshit. In reality what he does is treat the riff structures a bit more loosely than most bass players. He’ll always make sure to present the melodic context of the riff but at the same time he has this uncanny knack for adding his own artistic & melodic stamp to the songs & it works brilliantly in my opinion. He never crosses over the line into self-indulgence & provides the perfect base for Jerry to delve into the more expansive melodic excursions that are a highlight of the album. Geezer Butler was the master of this technique however Black Sabbath never took their proggier moments as far as Cirith Ungol do here. What a great bass player this guy is to be mentioned in the same breath as Geezer who our listeners will know by now is a long-time favourite of mine. But let’s not forget guitarist Jerry Fogle’s contribution here too Ben because he’s made an enormous impact on this album. To be completely honest his guitar technique isn’t exactly wonderful. He’s a long way from a virtuoso as his chops are limited & he lacks class in his execution & technique but what he does have is an excellent ear for melody & a seemingly limitless artistic palette. I’m a big fan of the sections where he multi-tracks numerous different guitar tracks on top of each other with harmonies flowing in & out of each other & it’s actually these that people are hearing when they’re referring to the guitar & bass harmonizing. It’s really quite impossible to imagine how Cirith Ungol could have played a lot of this material live because there’s just so many different guitar parts being presented at the same time. I can’t believe it could possibly sound as good with a single guitarist but I’m open to being proven wrong about that. As with so many metal musicians of the time, Jerry clearly worshiped at the altar of Tony Iommi but to Jerry’s credit he manages to not only harness Tony’s inner heaviness but matches him for the most part with some of the most gargantuan riffs we’ve heard on the show to date. This is a really big component of what makes “King Of The Dead” so special. And when you add in the more progressive & at times psychedelic leanings of Jerry’s solo work you’ve got some genuinely interesting heavy metal on your hands. Now even if you love everything the three instrumentalists in the band have to offer, there’s still the obvious elephant in the room that we’re yet to discuss in front man Tim Baker. He’s certainly not for everyone & I’d suggest he’s a fine example of an acquired taste. Personally, I think he works brilliantly on the slower, doomier numbers on the tracklisting but the faster songs see him feeling the need to repeatedly contribute those awful slightly out-of-key divebomb shrieks & I have to admit that I find him hard to tolerate. But when he’s on the money in the more epic tracks he sounds genuinely unnerving & insane which adds something extra to the music in my opinion. Overall, it’s obvious that Cirith Ungol’s main influence is the first three Black Sabbath albums & that can’t be a bad thing but if you listen closely you can also hear bits & pieces of other Sabbath-influenced early 70’s hard rock bands like Budgie & Bang as well as plenty of progressive rock & some of the psychedelics of Cream & Sir Lord Baltimore. The fact that these influences hark back to an era blessed with so much substance makes the band seem like a much more attractive prospect to me so I inevitably give Cirith Ungol a lot more of a chance to impress me than I might other stock standard 80’s metal bands. I don’t know about you Ben but there’s definitely enough genuine doom metal on the album to have Cirith Ungol spoken of in those terms (if not falling straight into the doom bucket). I don’t hear the whole epic metal thing much though & I find it strange that the band are always lumped in with the early exponents of that sound. I mean they obviously have some things in common with a band like Manilla Road but do they actually sound anything alike? I’m not sure they do. In fact I’m not sure they sound much like any of their contemporary peers to be honest. And that’s a real feather in Cirith Ungol’s cap if you ask me."