Cirith Ungol is a heavy metal band from the USA formed in the seventies, prolific during the eighties, disbanding in the nineties, resurfacing twenty-five years later, performing at the 2016 Frost And Fire II festival in the band’s very own hometown of Ventura! During a career that has spanned over fifty years, Cirith Ungol has released six albums – ‘Frost And Fire’ (1981), ‘King Of The Dead’ (1984), ‘One Foot In Hell’ (1986), ‘Paradise Lost’ (1991), ‘Forever Black’ (2020), and ‘Dark Parade’ (2023).
The band’s current line-up consists of founder Robert Garven (drums), Tim Baker (vocals), Jimmy Barraza (guitar), Greg Lindstrom (guitar), and Jarvis Leatherby (bass) – the new album ‘Dark Parade’ an eight-song forty-four-minute roller coaster ride of exquisite heavy metal. ‘Velocity (S.E.P.)’ gets us underway with a highly traditional metal flavour, the band planting their feet firmly on the monitor, adopting the iconic metal stance! Cirith Ungol hails from a time of great development for heavy metal, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise just how old-school sounding they are – but old school is a great place to be! I’m old school and fucking loving it! ‘Relentless’ opens with the classic guitar tone so synonymous with the legendary NWOBHM evolution, the band bringing an air of doom metal to the fore too – ‘Relentless’ a menacing mid-tempo stomp of crushing heaviness!
If you’re looking for a melodic heavy metal album in the vein of Iron Maiden, Manowar or Running Wild, you’re looking in the wrong place. For ‘Dark Parade’ sits somewhere between traditional metal, doom and thrash, not pigeon-holed to just one style of metal – although that said, ‘Sailor On The Seas Of Fate’ does open with a meandering wander of high melodious intent! Only for the first thirty seconds or so, Cirith Ungol laying waste to the airways with their blend of crushing doom metal, ‘Sailor On The Seas Of Fate’ striding on at a mid to slow Black Sabbath-esque tempo! Until halfway through when an incredible change of pace sees, or rather hears, ‘Sailor On The Seas Of Fate’ turn on its heels and gallop furiously for a little bit, before resuming its almighty foot-stomping attitude. And I must admit, I’ve not listened to Cirith Ungol for a while and had kinda forgotten how doomy the band are! I’ll not forget that anymore though, the album marching on with the bludgeoning swagger of ‘Sacrifice’, carving out a terrifying path across the land, demolishing anything and everything standing in its way!
Not for the faint of heart, ‘Dark Parade’ marches steadily on with the heavy foot stomping ‘Looking Glass’, shuddering the ground with immense force, shaking buildings to their foundations! I just can’t stress enough how doom-heavy this album is, every song heard so far is liable to snap bones and crush skulls, the band an unforgiving force of nature that’s wreaking havoc all over the world, with mosh pits everywhere forming devastating circles of death! Enter at your peril dear readers, you have been warned! The title song ‘Dark Parade’ actually lifts the doom clouds for the first time since the album began, the band adopting a mid-tempo trot as the essence of old school trickles outta ‘Dark Parade’ (the song) – Cirith Ungol remaining steadfastly in the gap between the genres of traditional metal, doom and thrash.
And there’s the iconic guitar tone of the NWOBHM once more, ‘Distant Shadows’ perfectly recreating the buzz of a bygone era – an era that actually lives on with bands such as Cirith Ungol leading the way for others to follow. It seems strange to say that a band from America leads the way with regards to NWOBHM – the “B” (obviously) standing for British! But when you consider there are bands all over the world leading the way in their own country, it’s not that strange really – NWOBHM adopted by Canada’s Anvil, Japan’s Anthem, and Germany’s Running Wild to name just a few! Distance and years make no difference whatsoever as far as the influence of the UK on the world with regards to heavy metal and the iconic NWOBHM – it’s everywhere, and it’s gonna get ya, no matter how far! Bringing the album to a close, ‘Down Below’ seamlessly floats in on the back of ‘Distant Shadows’, maintaining the incredible foot-stomping attitude that’s been prevalent throughout the entire album. An album that featured a crushing heaviness that’ll test the strength of skulls and bones to their limits!
Overall, a doom-heavy foray of mid-tempo thunder, ‘Dark Parade’ is menacing yet enticing, attracting a wide array of listeners and fans.
TRACKLIST
Velocity (S.E.P.)
Relentless
Sailor On The Seas Of Fate
Sacrifice
Looking Glass
Dark Parade
Distant Shadows
Down Below
Cirith Ungol: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Metal; Blade Records
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
