Conducted By: Georgina Strilakos
Cirith Ungol is an American heavy metal band formed in late 1971 in Ventura, California. This power metal group is known for lyrics based on sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy. They have had a cult following that has span decades and their fans are forever loyal. The band sat down to answer some questions for The Metal Pit. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Rob and Tim of Cirith Ungol…
On the current line-up of the band…
Rob :The world will see that on October 20 at our album release show at the Roxy!
On side projects and other non Cirith Ungol-related activities…
Rob: Some of the members barely have time for one music project! Of course, our bass player and manager Jarvis is currently in the band Night Demon and Greg put out two albums with his band Falcon.
On lineup changes and maintaining the band’s global cult success over the years…
Rob: At first, I was thinking we really didn’t have that many line-up changes overtime, but as I look back over the years there were a few changes. It’s hard to say what factors contributed to the band’s cult or underground identity but I’m sure most of it centers around our band’s unique style and vocalist Tim’s voice!
On breaking into the North American market…
Rob: The band has always had fans all over the United States, but they’re geographically spread out, as opposed to Europe where a large part of the heavy metal community is closer together.
On whether Forever Black ignited a fresh approach to music and influence on the latest release…
Rob: It definitely put the band back on the map as far as being taken seriously, but I think our approach to music has always been the same, to play the heaviest metal known to man!
Regarding the latest album Dark Parade…
Tim Baker: The name Dark Parade conjures up the latest searing entry in Cirith Ungol’s ongoing chronicle of man’s never-ending fade into Doom. Nightmare tales of pain, suffering and corruption – a Dark Parade into the abyss…
On how the band got its name…
Rob: We got our name when Greg and I were in a literature class in 7th grade and we were assigned to read J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. It was a huge influence on us at the time and opened up the “Sword And Sorcery” genre of books, including Elric, Conan, etc.! You have to remember we were about thirteen years old, and we were asked to read a three-part novel, each part around 600 pages, which was a lot on your plate when you’re at that age. Back then the Lord of the Rings was not the cultural phenomenon it is today, and I don’t think we’d ever even heard of it before that class.
Although our name came from the Lord of the Rings and our album covers all have Elric of Meliniboné on the covers, these were enormous influences on the band but it was never our intention to have those themes define the band or it’s music.
On the topic of literature and the band’s favorite books…
Rob: All the guys in the band over the years have had different tastes in literature and I remember when Greg and I were reading the Lord of the Rings Jerry was reading Dune! He even had a plastic sand worm toy that I inherited from him but somehow, I stupidly lost at one point. I wish I still had that! Some of the band including us are also big fans of HP Lovecraft. I read the story the Dunwich Horror when I was actually younger probably around 11 years old and it made a lasting impression on me, and today he is still one of my favorite authors! The band played an HP Lovecraft convention Necronomicon in Providence, Rhode Island, his hometown, and the next day we did a walking tour around town and saw many of the locations that he used in his stories. It was a very exciting moment for m. I stood in front of The Shunned House and the house of Charles Dexter Ward!
On the topic of influences and describing the unique sound of Cirith Ungol…
Rob: I’m not sure where we get our uniqueness from but obviously Tim’s voice and my caveman drumming style certainly set the band apart. Much of our early influences were bands that came from the late 60s early 70s man such as Budgie, Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust, Lucifers Friend, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, Mountain, all the greats! We also took pride in searching out new heavy metal music back in the day, and we were listening to some of the bands that became legends, but also some obscure bands that maybe only put out an album or two such as Night Sun, Boomerang, Bang, May Blitz, etc.
On the band’s peformance at the Keep It True festival in Germany…
Rob: We played Keep It True Festival twice. We were supposed to headline two consecutive nights in 2020 but that got canceled because of the pandemic. We finally we’re lucky enough to finally get to play in 2023. We are really bummed out that we missed out playing two nights there as a headlining band at the cancelled 2020 show, as that would have been unprecedented, and a remarkable occurrence. The band was scheduled to play our new album Forever Black that was just released and unfortunately that never happened.
On the topic of choosing the art for their albums…
Rob: Ever since we forged a relationship with Michael Whelan with our first album, Frost & Fire, our dream was to use his series of Elrić of Melnibone covers from the 1980’s DAW Book editions, for all our future covers. Of course, back then we had no idea what the future held for us, or how many albums we would ever release. Once again, we are honored and privileged to have this renowned artist’s work again gracing our latest album, and hope to continue to work with him on any future projects! He has been one of the band’s best and most constant friends through the years, even coming out to see the band play in Brooklyn, New York! I talk to him regularly about the bands activities and he shares with me his current projects. He shared with me he listens to our albums when he needs to get a certain kind of inspiration. I consider him one of my best friends, and one of the finest artists that has ever lived.
This Whelan masterpiece we used for Dark Parade is spectacular, “Elric and the Sinking City”. Elric looks like he’s gazing out, looking for something, it also seems like he’s contemplating possibly some of his previous triumphs or defeats. I sense a look on his face of weariness, but also of purpose at what lies ahead, not unlike where our band is at this moment in time.
Regarding the special Dark Parade live album release show on October 20th at the Roxy in West Hollywood…
Rob: Early in our career we played all the famous clubs in Hollywood on the sunset strip, Roxy being one of them, which was actually videotaped in 1983 and included with the ultimate King Of The Dead album that was re-released on the Metal Blade Records in 2017 after the band reunited. What is special is playing the album in its entirety, and that will be the first time we have ever done that and it’s going to be recorded for a live album and video, which also makes it very special
On the most memorable show the band has ever played you have ever played…
Rob: When I look back on the recent years, the memories I have are burned indelibly into my consciousness! They are filled with endless flights to distant destinations, meeting new friends, and playing at venues that once were only a dream back when we started. One moment however is seared into my mind. We played the Chaos Descends Festival out in the forest near Crispendorf, Germany. The festival is named after one of our songs, and set in a scenic rural location that was surreal. A beautiful yet haunting valley, set between two small mountains with a lonely river snaking between them, and a small train circling the area. I remember looking out from behind the drums, while pounding out our song ‘Chaos Descends’, seeing the trees and stars, and hearing the huddled masses humming out the refrain, louder than our amps. I could feel a direct connection to the earth elementals, and all those fevered souls in attendance, rhythmic swaying in frenzied unison, with the pulsing of the molten metal we were laying out before them! The feeling I experienced was incredible!
On whether Cirith Ungol’s music has ever been used in films and movies…
Rob: Witch’s Game came about when Tim found mention of movie The Planet Of Doom on the Internet. Jarvis contacted the producers as we had a song, ‘Doomed Planet’, on our One Foot In Hell album. The Planet Of Doom movie is one continuous tale broken up into fifteen chapters, each interpreted by a different artist and musical band. The artists in our chapter are Andrei Bouzikov, and Joel Abad. It is an animated feature length film in which the hero, Halvar The Brave, seeks vengeance aboard a witch-born chopper, journeying across a psychedelic landscape on a quest to defeat the deadly beast Mördvél for the slaying of his beloved bride. The art director and producer, David Paul Seymour, and the animator and director, Tim Granda, were long time fans of the band, and wanted to use ‘Doomed Planet’ during the closing credits of the movie.
Fortunately for us one of the other bands in the movie had to drop out, so we were offered the opportunity to write an original composition for the movie. This song, ‘Witch’s Game’, was composed specifically for a chapter in the movie where the hero of the movie “Halvar” enters a cave and encounters a witch who reads his tarot cards. During that reading he journeys into the cards, with some pretty trippy experiences! We are all very excited to work on this project, as we had never been involved in a motion picture soundtrack before, and we are eagerly awaiting the movie’s release, the pandemic set it back like many things, but it still is in the works and you can follow its progress online.
On the band’s social media presence and current and future tour information…
Rob: I will list our social media sites below and if anyone is interested all updated current information about the band will be posted there!
Last words…
Rob: Thank you for continuing with us on this long journey we started so long ago! We hope to see you all out at one of our rare live appearances in 2024! Please support the band and pick up Forever Black and Dark Parade!
Thank you so much for taking the time for The Metal Pit…
Rob: Georgina, thank you so much for taking time to talk with me about our new album Dark Parade and Cirith Ungol! It was a pleasure talking with you today and hope we see you out at one of our shows! If so, please come up to me and introduce yourself!
Facebook: https://facebook.com/cirithungolofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cirithungolband
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CirithU
Bandcamp https://cirithungol.bandcamp.com