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Frost and Fire is the debut album by the heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. Its music is generally faster and more simplistic than that of King of the Dead, which saw the band adopt a doom metal style influenced heavily by progressive rock. The album was produced by Cirith Ungol. Originally released by Cirith Ungol on Liquid Flames Records in 1980, the album was re-released in 1981 by Enigma Records, re-released again along with King of the Dead on one CD by One Way Records in 1995, and finally re-released again in September 1999 on Metal Blade Records. A bootleg picture disc version of this LP, limited to 500 hand-numbered copies, also exists.-Robert Garven, Iron Pages interview 1994 (approx. translation from german)
*Fun fact: The legendary swiss black/thrash/experimental metal band Celtic Frost took their name from this album. They took the "Frost" from "Frost and Fire" and changed "Cirith" to "Celtic".
Of course we know about it. We even were supposed to play support for Celtic Frost shows in L.A., but their management didn't want us! Sad, because you must know that we were always better live than on LP, we have over 1000 gigs behind us!
-Robert Garven, Metal Nightmare interview 2000The coverart was created by Michael Whelan for Michael Moorcocks fantasy books. It is entitled "Stormbringer" and has inspired Deep Purple's "Stormbringer", Hawkwinds "The Chronicle of the Black Sword", Magnum's "Stormbringer", Blue Öyster Cult's Black Blade, Blind Guardian's "Fast to Madness" and many more.
At the time we wanted a "Sword and Sorcery" theme cover called "Berserker" by Frank Frazetta, a famous sword and sorcery artist, but it was taken by the country rock band MOLLY HATCHET! I was reading Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock at the time and was thinking, "man this is the ultimate cover art!" I never thought we could use it but I contacted the publisher who got me in touch with Michael Whelan, who is one of the few people in our entire music career who was honest, friendly and kind, and we got to use it. I think we were the first album cover he had done at the time and we really wanted to use all his Elric series on our covers which we did! I told him that I always wanted to buy the painting for berserkerthe cover of #1 (Stormbringer) from him if we made it big but we never did. He was quite successful then, but now he is probably the world foremost fantasy artist/painter/illustrator and his paintings cost a lot of money. It's funny, DEEP PURPLE had an album named after the book and we got the cover. BLUE OYSTER CULT also had a song, "Bane of the Black Sword" which was based on Michael Moorcock's writing.
To me, Elric is a classic anti-hero. He deplores all the evil in his world, and tries to fight against it, but in the end, he cannot overcome it and even unwittingly aids the forces of chaos.-Greg Lindstrom, Tombstone interview 09/2001
Actually, Michael didn't join the banduntil after we recorded the "Frost And Fire" album in December 1980. I played bass on that record, but we put Flint's name on the album so people would recognize him as a band member when they saw us live.-Greg Lindstrom, interview by Patrick Lefevre
I wish we could have gotten a heavier sound, but were all still learning how to use the studio. We definitely would have liked to put “Last Laugh” and “Hype Performance” on the album, but we basically just ran out of money to pay for recording time. Remember, we paid for everything on “Frost And Fire” ourselves, from the recording time to the shrinkwrap.-Greg Lindstrom, interview by Patrick Lefevre
I'm partial to F & F, I just wish we could have gotten a heavier sound on the album, but we were on a very limited budget and we were all still learning how to use the studio. The sound I imagined in my head was much heavier.-Greg Lindstrom
We wanted to make it big, but all of our music was so heavy and dark, we thought we would use our most commercial material on Frost and Fire, so that we would get air time and stuff. Although all the lyrics and some of the music on Frost and Fire were written by Greg, almost all of our songs over the years were a collaborative effort, some times "I" would even hum out parts until we got it right. Everything had to be perfect, sometimes leading to fist fights over riffs. Anyway, it just turned out Greg's songs had the more commercial sound. After Frost and Fire came out it was only played a couple of times on the LA radio station KLOS because everyone said it was way too heavy..... So we figured FUCK IT!!! If they think that is heavy why are we holding back? Let's show them something really heavy!!! We wrote about thirty songs with Greg that have never been released, some not even on tape. It was only understandable that we put some on King of the Dead. Greg did not leave until after Frost and Fire, so we were writing songs up to the day he left.-Robert Garven
One reviewer in Kerrang! called Frost And Fire the worst heavy metal album ever recorded! I think a lot of critics at the time just didn't know who to compare us to and tended to dismiss us. But the fan reaction from all over the world was great. Unfortunately, our albums didn't have very good distribution and were often hard to find in stores. And that's part of the reason I quit the band. I felt I had reached a turning point in my life after graduating college and spending 10 years in the band. It was more than a year after Frost and Fire had been released, and sales were decent, but nothing was really happening for us, and I felt it was time to move on, which I did with much regret.-Greg Lindstrom
We used to walk around neighborhoods knocking on doors and offering to wash peoples' cars! The first 3000 copies of "Frost And Fire", as well as the recording costs were totally paid for by the band.-Greg Lindstrom, The Corroseum interview
I think the confusion lies with “Frost & Fire”, which we wrote to get noticed and popular and so it was intentionally all of our most accessible or radio friendly or commercial songs. We wrote and played heavier songs before and after but that album was meant to launch our career. Unfortunately it was considered too heavy by the radio stations in LA, and though it did receive much underground and college airplay it was not apparently what we needed to succeed. After Greg left we said well, why try to appease an audience that we were to heavy for anyway so we made a conscious effort to make the next album much heavier and gloomier.-Robert Garven, Diabolical Conquest interview
Question: What are your ten most valuable records from a collectors view?-Greg Lindstrom, interview
My ten remaining sealed copies of the original Frost & Fire LP on Liquid Flames Records! I'm not sure how valuable they are
1980, USA, EPIC/TRUE METAL WITH 70S VIBES AND MORE SOUL THAN SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE!-Darkthrone, from their list of album recommendations in the booklet for the F.O.A.D. album.
*The Tales that Speak of "Frost & Fire"
As co-founder and drummer of Cirith Ungol for 22 years I feel I need to respond to some of the reviews here.
A previous reviewer mentioned that "Frost & Fire" sounded thrown together. The real truth is that we had been in the band for 9 years already and "Frost & Fire" was our attempt to get "commercial" airplay and find success with what we considered some of our more accessable music and yes radio friendly music! When the local LA station KLOS played it once and considered it too heavy, we decided to go for broke with our second album and pulled out all the stops. I disagree with some of the reviewers and think Tim's singing is not only excellent here and that "Frost & Fire" has some of his best vocals. This album features his highest pitched and clearest singing. Anyone who does not call it sining has to compare it with some of todays death metal. "'Im Alive" was one of our all time best songs, which we started almost every set with. The LA Times said that Pearl Jams "Alive" was a blatant rip off of our song, which is debatable.
I also think the title track "Frost & Fire" is excellent with a great middle break and solo and that "Better off Dead" has a great bass line and some of Tim's greatest singing range. This is all said looking back with a historical view that only I of all the reviewers can comment on being there the whole time. Jerry's solos are amazing and his passing was very tragic and sad.
This album has to be listened to many times to appreciate the lyrics, songwriting and performance as a whole not separate parts and to understand as opposed to it being thrown together is was a calculated attempt to obtain a major label contract during a time that only bands with catchy songs that would get any radio airplay were signed. Although i think "King of the Dead" was more representative of the band I am most proud of this album because not only was it our first but it was graced by the unbelievable cover illustration of Michael Whelan's epic portrait of Elric of Melnibone holding Stormbringer high above his head. This was a dream of ours and after so many years of struggle it was our reality. And yes our music can never be worthy of this great artists work!
Considering we produced, self recorded and paid for the entire project and that we were one of if not the first independent band to put out their own album before the wave of indie productions during that time, I think "Frost & Fire" "King of the Dead" & "Servants of Chaos" are a mandatory listen.
That said "King of the Dead" is my favorite and the last album which we had total control over. I am proud that we are mentioned in the same breath as bands that were epic and hope you all appreciate what we were trying to acomplish at a time when only big label bands had any chance of distribution or airplay.
Unfortunately for you the listener you never got to hear the other 20 or so odd songs that never made it to print such as: "Half Past Human - A Quarter to Ape" & "Brutish Manchild" but then that is another story for another day............
Robert Garven
Ventura, CA
March 2008
Amazon-review (5 out of 5 stars)
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Click here to see the Cirith Ungol Familytree.
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Click here to see the Cirith Ungol Familytree.
* = not full member status.
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The being called Ungol is dead-Cirith Ungol's mission statement
its resurrection is doubtful.
But heed it's teachings oh faithful
for on these memoratic disks contain
the wisdom of the ages
and by your iron fists
may the horror
of false metal be extinguished.
As you now join the swelling ranks of the Legions of Chaos
together we will drive before us
the cringing herd of False Metal
crush their spineless lackeys
and purge the world of their mutant plague!!!
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I find more darkness and ´dread´ in a Cirith Ungol LP like KING OF THE DEAD than any Obituary or Cannibal Corpse record ever offered me.-King Fowley, Apr 2004
It's going to be a million times more radical. People aren't going to know it's the same band. The lyrics are much more intense and the music is heavy. Tim Baker, Heavy Metal Times 1983 (the year before release) Frost And Fire and King Of The Dead are my favorites. KOTD is CU's classic. The production is 100% heavier than on Frost And Fire.-Greg Lindstrom
King of the Dead was our best album, the reason was that we had total control over it. Every album could have been this good if we could have exercised complete control over its production and other things. This is the album which I feel is our best effort. The reason the long wait between albums is because when you are financing them yourselves, you have to come up with the money to pay for things like studio time. Plus being on all these independent labels their time tables are slower. I also did all the layout and design of the first three covers, all this while we were all working full time trying to sponsor the dream.-Robert Garven
As co-founder and drummer of Cirith Ungol for 22 years I feeelricl I can say without a doubt that this was our best effort. A previous reviewer mentioned that "Frost & Fire" sounded thrown together. The real truth is that we had been in the band for 9 years already and "Frost & Fire" was our attempt to get airplay and find success with what we conpagered some of our more accessable music. When the local LA station KLOS played it once and conpagered it too heavy, we decided to go for bro ke with our second album. I disagree and think Tim singing is not only excellent and that "Frost & Fire" has some of his best vocals. "'Im Alive" was one of our all time best songs, which we started almost every set with. The LA Times said that Pearl Jams "Alive" was a blatant rip off of our song, which is debatable. C onpagering we produced, self recorded and paid for the entire project and that we were one of if not the first independent band to put out their own album during the wave of indie productions during that time, I think F&F and KOTD is a mandatory listen.
That said "King of the Dead" is my favorite and the last album which we had total control over. I am proud that we are mentioned in the same breath as bands that were epic and hope you all appreciate what we were trying to acomplish at a time when only big label bands had any chance of distribution or airplay.
Rob Garven
May 2007
Amazon-review
(Rating: 5 out of 5 stars)
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It should be mandatory for Metal fans to purchase, or at least listen to One Foot In Hell and find out what "radical" really means. Shit, just look at the album cover! The music is just as wild, and that's saying a lot!-Tim Baker, Suck City interview, 1986
It's an excellent album although I thought the songs overall were not as strong as King of the Dead, and Flint’s bass seems to have gotten lost in the mix.-Greg Lindstrom
The problem with One Foot in Hell is that Brian Slagel who owned Metal Blade Records wanted to take a large role in the production of the album. I think this was the beginning of where the band started to lose control of our vision and it is evident in this record. There were solos left out or changed, and multi tiered vocals ala Styx “Serpent is Rising” that were removed. I also did not like the final mix. We also recorded the tracks in LA, whereas with the first two albums we recorded them across the street from our band studio, so we had less time and were in a strange location, which did not help the sound or mood. Brian to this day does not like me and I suppose his feelings toward me, which I have tried to unsuccessfully patch up over the years, was taken out on the band. This again probably was my personality, negatively affecting the bands success which I will never forgive my self for.-Robert Garven, Diabolical Conquest
You didn't hear the solo's of Jerry's tat were cut on OFIH or the unbelievable four part background vocals I did on 'Nadsokor' that never made it to the record. I also feel that it was mixed kind of flat.-Robert Garven, Steel Conjuring, 2000
Brian was in complete control of this project and did the final mixdown. He did a good job but he cut out allot of stuff I wanted in the final mix. There were many great guitar solos and vocal harmonies, which were deleted, which is sad.-Robert Garven, Guardians of Fate 3/02
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That's Metal: There were rumors about a re-release of the "Paradise Lost” album on CD and even on Vinyl. Can you tell me something about it?
Robert Garven: I talked to Brian [Slagel of Metal Blade Records] about this, and once again if there is any kind of desire to re-release "Paradise Lost" (PL) on Metal Blade I am fully in favor of the project and would do everything in my power to see it completed.
-That's Metal interview 1/99
Looking at the album as an outpager, I think Paradise Lost is a very inconsistent album. It has got some of the best stuff CU has ever done (The Chaos trilogy) and the worst (The Troll and the truly vile Go It Alone). Even though Jimmy Barraza is a fantastic guitar player, I feel that he lacks a certain spark of uniqueness that made Jerry so great. And I really prefer Tim's higher pitched vocals on the earlier albums.-Greg Lindstrom
I have to agree with Greg, although he was luckily not in the band "Paradise Lost" was like a nightmare I have never awaken from. We were totally screwed by the record company and the producer took away all of the control and I think destroyed the entire project. If you listen to the version we did of "Fallen Idols" on the new CD I think you can get a feel for what the entire Paradise Lost CD should have sounded like. The sad part of the whole sordid affair is that Restless never meant to do anything to promote the record at all, so I think if we could have made the CD the way we wanted it probably would have been more successful and we would still be together today. Restless to this day refuses to license the record for who knows what reaseon even though at least 3 different companies have shown an interest in re-releasing it!-Robert Garven
I was to go in with only the little f**king click machine to record the drum tracks, no bass... no guitar.. no nothing to play with but this little piece of shit!! Next the other members followed suit except Ron did not want the other members of the band in the studio. (I guess he didn't want us to contaminate his vision of what we thought was our album !!!!) So each band member went in did his part alone. I was really upset about the vocals cause I had coached and cheered Tim through the last 3 albums, Guess what I wasn't allowed in while the vocals were done. I hope you can get the picture of how warped and terrible this whole album was done. Not only this but the best 20 seconds of the album Ron cut out because while he was producing the album he fucked up and the part which I thought was the most killer part of "Paradise Lost" was spooled out on the studio room floor. I was very pissed about this !!! And still am !!-Robert Garven, interview by Patrick Lefevre
The best 20 seconds of music we ever wrote and or played was cut out on the mix down by Ron Goudie (the producer of “Paradise Lost”) because he micro-managed the recording sessions badly and forgot how the song went. I've said it before but this CD could have been the best we ever did but with Flint quitting and the overproduction and loss of any control by the band it was I think the worst. For instance, none of us were allowed in the studio while the others recorded. I played the drums to a forced click track without any emotion. When we protested we were threatened with the plug being pulled so we soldiered on. I cried when I heard the final mix….-Robert Garven, Diabolical Conquest interview
Lets say it was not the best of times for the band. We did, however, write the best music we ever did, only to be destroyed by the producer of “Paradise Lost”, and the time it took to get the project off the ground. One of our roadies in the last days, I’ll call him “Dave”, helped break the band up by giving false advice to Jimmy, who, like Flint, could not see the big picture. We had met the bass player for Heart who was living in Ojai ,and he came and saw us a couple of times. He was interested in producing our next CD. I called Restless and told Ron Goudie who signed us and produced “Paradise Lost” about this new development. Within a week, we received a letter saying that Restless was passing on its option to do any more albums with us. My theory is that since Ron worked for the company, he paid himself, lets say $30,000, to produce our album. Since he was the only one that made any money on the deal, removing him from the equation meant that it made no sense to keep us around. As a page note, when Brian decided to re-release the CD’s in the US and Europe, they contacted Restless to see if they could get the rights to re-release “Paradise Lost”. It turns out the attorney we had at the time, Evan Cohen, advised us to sign a contract where we gave ALL of the rights for not only the album, but also the music to Restless Records forever. The contracts were very complicated, and we had no knowledge what we doing at the time. Restless Records has refused to allow anyone to this day to re-release the CD, and we cannot understand why. They would have at least made a little money off a band that they had thrown away, so no one has figured out why they have refused every attempt to re-release this CD. I believe that it is because of spite. I thought it sucked anyway, so I have no regrets.-Robert Garven, Sleazegrinder interview
Restless Records did nothing for the band in the way of promotion or touring. They had me contact Roadrunner Records in Europe (who released our first 2 records) to try to convince them to release "Paradise Lost" in Europe. The owner I think was named Cess Wessels or something, refused to release it saying that it was outdated. It is funny as it is the CD that everyone wants and it is still unavailable! I have tried on several occasions to get PL re-released but with no luck. Several companies were very interested in re-releasing it, however Restless Records would never return their phone calls or e-mail.-Robert Garven, The Corroseum interview
Here is the complete story of what happen before, during and after "Paradise Lost": After OFIH was released we kind of knew that M.B. either didn't have the money or interest in the band to follow through with what we needed, so the waiting game started again. We had written the most unbelievable set of new songs and we were ready to release them in 1987 when the band broke up, but the demo versions (I think I destroyed the tapes) of what was later to be Tim's trilogy "Paradise Lost" were 10 times better than the album you know of by that name. I was personally so disappointed in the album that when I came home and listened to it the night it was completed, I actually cried, thinking of all these wasted fucking years trying to get this whole fucking thing off the ground, all the REAL blood, sweat and tears and here we are fucked again. It was almost more than I could take as an artist.
What happened next is the downfall of the band as I envisioned it. Jerry, impatient with his 15 years in the band and my relentless pushing of all involved getting every one to keep up the grueling work even though there was never any pay back, left the band. Flint, Tim and I tried to talk him out of it to no avail. We had found a really good guitarist named Jimmy Baraza who we wanted to bring on board so that Jerry could concentrate on his leads and we could play all the double leads we were writing in all the new (and old) songs. Somehow Jerry must have felt that we were trying to replace him although nothing could have been farther from the truth.
Next we signed with Restless which actually were the shattered remains of our original label Enigma who had been bought by Capitol because they were impressed by all their poser type bands. After Capitol bought them and the men dressing like women thing started to die out (who would have guessed:) Enigma filed for bankruptcy. I don't know or care about all the sordid details but they ended up in an abbreviated company called Restless. We were so desperate at this time and really had nowhere else to go, so I talked this creep Ron Goudie into signing the band. It took at least 3 years for all the shit to settle at the record company after their breakup with Capitol so this whole time we waited. I showed up at the band room one night and Flint's stuff was missing. He had decided to join a garage band thinking that our career was as doomed as the planet we live on. After six months he returned only to leave again right as soon as the album was to start to be recorded. I can't fault their decision but if Jerry and Flint would have stuck it out, #4 would have been a lot better CD and we may have finally got the recognition that we deserved.
Anyway, I put ads in the local music stores and got a call from two guys who were in a local band in Santa Barbara. They came down and we decided they would be better than nothing. The deal was they'd help us record our album and they would get to put some of their songs on it. The guitarist Joe Malatesta's song was "The Troll" and the bass player Bob Warenburg's song was "Heaven Help Us". Although these songs really were not our style we really had no choice.
I showed up at the band room one night and Ron Goudie brought in a little box which was to be my little friend for the next fucking six months! It was a fucking electric metronome. I was to play along with it every day until I could learn to keep a "beat", this way the album was to be professional (in his opinion). Every time I complained about this kind of bullshit he would kindly remind us that we could stop the whole thing at any time if we couldn't follow his orders, it was just as well with him. Anyway here is the true disgusting story how we were forced to record our fourth album.
I was to go in with only the little fucking click machine to record the drum tracks, no bass... no guitar.. no nothing to play with but this little piece of shit!! Next the other members followed suit, except Ron did not want the other members of the band in the studio. (I guess he didn't want us to contaminate his vision of what we thought was our album!!!!) So each band member went in did his part alone. I was really upset about the vocals cause I had coached and cheered Tim through the last 3 albums. Guess what, I wasn't allowed in while the vocals were done. I hope you can get the picture of how warped and terrible this whole album was done. Not only this but the best 20 seconds of the album Ron cut out because while he was producing the album he fucked up and the part which I thought was the most killer part of "Paradise Lost" was spooled out on the studio room floor. I was very pissed about this!!! And still am!!
To make a long story short Bob got some kind of religion, and Joe left to do something or another. Both left before the album was even released, which made us look bad in Restless' eyes. Tim, Jimmy and I were so pissed at what we thought was a betrayal so we pulled their pictures from the album.
Anyway I put another ad the local music stores and got a call from a guy called Vern Green who also unfortunately had some religious beliefs, so right after we got cut from Restless he quit the band, then Jimmy quit. The sad thing about Jimmy, he was one hell of a guitarist but once again he didn't have what it takes to have followed it through. It is really a shame but Tim and I were looking at each other one night at our band room and we just decided after 22 years of being f**ked over we had had about enough. I sold all our equipment and my drums paid off our bills and Cirith Ungol was officially deceased.
This is the Straw that Broke the Camels Back and was truly "Paradise Lost"
I was one the founding members and drummer of Cirith Ungol. This was our last album. We were treated so poorly by the record company that it broke the band up after 22 years. We had little or no artistic control over the production of this album, and even though we paid a big time lawyer $$$ to review the contract, we unknowingly sold the rights to album forever. When all our other CDs were re-released by Metal Blade of Germany, Restless the company that owned the rights to Paradise Lost, refused to let this cd be re-released. We were not even contacted by the current company releasing it, and will not receive any royalties from its sale. I even tried to contact them and received no reply.
To add insult to injury our singer Tim Baker went to a local store and had to buy a copy of the CD. I urge you not to buy this CD and instead look for our other remastered CD's "Frost & FIre" & "King of the Dead" & "Servants of Chaos" these are still in print in Europe (only!) and they were the only projects that we had artistic control over.
I was so upset by this project and its production and aftermath I swore "That I would never touch another drumstick or play drums, if it meant being in the same business as these people". Even though we have been offered many reunion tours and dates I have kept my oath, and expect that I will keep it until death...
Playing drums and Cirith Ungol was my life and passion and it is sad that such a great band with such untapped talent and potential had such little support while other bands with so little talent became huge commercial successes.
Sincerely,
Robert Garven
Ventura, CA
Amazon-review (1 out of 5 stars)
The reason this album sucks is that we had zero control over the entire project! The songs that dont fit were not written by band members, and each member were not allowed in the studio while the other members played their tracks. I was forced to play the drum tracks first and with a click machine with no other members playing. I cried when I heard it and it spelled the death of the band. Thanks Ron Goudie (the producer) and Restless Records. I hope there is really karma.......
If we had had full control over the album and Flint was still in the band it would have been our best, it enede up being our worst. Our demo tracks of the album were 10 times better than this lavish production which was a waste of time, ours and yours, sorry...... go back and listen to the first two! ;-)
BTW Jimmy was a hell of a guitarist, our dream was for him and Jerry to play double leads, but it was not to be.
Rob Garven
Ventura, CA
14 dec 2006
Metal-Archives-review (rating: 50%)
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Scheduling is underway for our album recording session. Tentative dates so far are November 22-26. Me and Greg will be flying out to Pennsylvania to rehearse with Darin a few days prior. Then we'll be driving out to Maryland to record with Chris Kozlowski at the helm. Looks like we're gonna record 10 songs. -PerryThis is what the track list looks like so far:
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I took two weeks off work – no pay – so we could record Die Wontcha towards the end of October '06. It was an incredible experience. Darin and Greg rose to the occasion and played their bloody arses off! They both should be commended for a job well done! I was rooming with the dudes from Blue Cheer at Chris Kozlowski's infamous Polar Bear Lair most of that time. Got to witness the reformed Cactus at Jaxx in Virginia, caught up with the Internal Void boys and we managed to whip out an album we were very satisfied with over several days.-Perry Grayson, 21 Jan 2009
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Fans had been asking for years about unreleased live and studio songs, so a few years ago Rob and I got to talking about the stacks of unreleased songs we had laying around, and we decided that at least some of it was good enough to be released. Overall, I’m very satisfied with the finished product. The sound quality isn’t always the greatest, but Brad Vance at DNA did a great job of saving and cleaning up our old tapes, some of which were 25 years old. The fan reaction has been great, and everyone seems to have a different favorite song. We keep getting asked when Volume 2 will come out, and there is still some more material we haven't unearthed yet.-Greg Lindstrom, BallBuster interview
Rob came up with the idea and Metal Blade Europe was very receptive, so we both spent weeks going through our respective stacks of tapes. What ended up on the CD is a small fraction of what we have on tape.-Greg Lindstrom, Tombstone interview 9/2001
There had been a lot of requests from our fans for some new CU material, so Rob and I spent a couple of months going through our old demo and practice tapes. Rob pitched the idea to Metal Blade, and the European side was very interested. Unfortunately, MB in the US did not release it, so the CD is rather hard to find over here in our own backyard! We would like to get a US label to release “Servants” over here.-Greg Lindstrom, True Metal magazine 07/02 interview
If “Servants” generates enough interest, you could hear from us again. We still have at least 20 songs that have never been released, like “Brutish Manchild” and “Route 666”. I would like to resurrect some more old tapes that have Jerry’s guitar magic.
Greg and I were actually the two original members so it was only natural that I turn to him to help work on the project. The other remaining members either did not want to participate or were totally against the project thinking that the music was inferior to our studio work. I was just interested in getting the music released before it was destroyed by time as so much of the other material was. Since our other albums had been released I thought that this was the best possible time and I knew that our good fans would enjoy hearing some of the early and live versions of some of the songs.-Robert Garven, True Metal magazine 07/02 interview
The only money we got to release Servants of Chaos went to the mastering lab, the few hundred dollars we had left over Greg and I agreed to send to Michael Whelan. In fact Greg and I spent some of our own money to get the project out and as soon as we signed the contract with Metal Blade it had a hidden clause in it that combined all the other re-release royalties guaranteeing that we would never make a cent on the deal. On a lighter note royalties that were made on Servants of Chaos were supposed to be deducted from the monies owed on the re-releases but never were. I contacted Metal Blade and Brian said he would look into it. I never heard back from them. People asked me if I was upset that bootleg albums existed of some of our material. My reply has been that since we have never made any money from our legitimate record companies why should we be upset at someone who would promote our music by releasing a bootleg?-Robert Garven, Diabolical Conquest interview
Metal Blade in Germany however, is run by a very cool guy, Michel Trengert. He has been a good friend to the band. We have never made much money from either group, but he was the guy that suggested that we put out our “Servants of Chaos” CD, which contained all our old and unreleased material, without him it never would have happened. Brian our old friend did not release it in America for whatever reason.-Robert Garven, Sleazegrinder interview
He [Trengert] suggested the idea to me and Greg and I got all the material together that we could find in hopes of releasing allot of stuff that no one had heard before. There are some real gems in there, including some great instrumental work by Greg, and a version of “Fallen Idols” that showed what the album “Paradise Lost” would have sounded like if we would not have had a producer destroy the musical compositions and arrangements. All in all, I was very happy with it, even though Metal Blade saw fit not to release it in the US. Tim was opposed to it, as he thought there was going to be some questionable material on there, but since the tapes were deteriorating, it was then or never. I decided that since the tapes were legally either Greg’s or mine that I was going to go for it for our fans. Unfortunately, it seemed to have cost our friendship.
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Tracklist
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Editions
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I almost did the artwork for the cover on CIrith Ungols Tribute "One Foot in Fire" However communication and collaboration with Bart Gabriel somehow got mixed up and things didn't work out. Kind of a bummer!-Graham Ganson (the artist), 03 Mar 2010 Here is another alternative cover. I don't know where it is from, but I guess it is a draft of the final version. Only the typings looks different.
He never used them, there was no contracts.
I can’t say that I’m familiar with most of them, but it’s really gratifying to know that so many fellow musicians are into CIRITH UNGOL. I’ve heard DOOMSWORD’s version of “Nadsokor” and they did a great job. By the way, FALCON is planning to be on the CIRITH UNGOL tribute as well, possibly with “Edge Of A Knife” or a different version of “Half Past Human”. I would love to hear PENTAGRAM do “I’m Alive”. I think Bobby singing would really add some poignancy to the lyrics.”-Greg Lindstrom, Headache interview, 2005 (a year before release)
I was also blown away by the covers to our songs that just came out on the Cirith Ungol tribute album. I think some of the versions of our songs are better than our original versions!-Robert Garven, Diabolical Conquest interview
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
A list of related bands, artists and collaborators. If you feel you should be on this list, don't be shy, but send a mail! Also contact if you have any additional information or corrections. Click here to see the Cirith Ungol Familytree.
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
Please help me to google!
I have a bunch of more interviews. I will put any of them up if you can find any of the zines' homepage (url), cover (frontpage) of the particular issue and/or logo for the zine. Some of the zines are unfortunately long time dead. This is a list of interviews I have, waiting to be uploaded:
Also if you have any other interviews or articles, contact!
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
The Webpit credits
The Cirith Ungol Webpit is a fanpage created by a norwegian fanboy and IT student. It was officially launched March 2010. Thanks to:
Your help is wanted!
I'm constantly looking for people who can contribute or collaborate in some way or other. You can contribute once, or regulary, it's up to you. Here are some ideas to contribute with:
If you have any other ideas, don't hesitate to contact! All contributers will be credited. Sorry, but I don't pay your money for it! Contact for further info.
Contact info:
Cirith Ungol Online,
info [at] cirithungol [dot] .org
Please add "Cirith Ungol" to the subject to ensure the mail doesn't get to the junk folder.
Alternatively, leave a comment in the comment field.
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
CDandLP / CD Universe / eBay / NoRemorse / Sonic Age Records
Cirith Ungol Webpit was hacked and injection (zip) with at least "Team neonorv", "BananaXTn" and "lagoon_tri" in September 2020. But this was amateurish, not really secure.
Edit: I now have my backup, but it will be more secured. Later.