King of Dead [Import]

Cirith Ungol | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 5, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Metal Blade
• ASIN: B00001R3NU
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,303 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #54 in Music > Indie Music > Rock > Hard Rock & Metal
  • #57 in Music > Imports > Hard Rock & Metal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cirith Ungols Best Album, May 11, 2007

By 

Robert W. Garven Jr. (Ventura, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: King of Dead (Audio CD)

As co-founder and drummer of Cirith Ungol for 22 years I feel 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 considered some of our more accessable 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. 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. 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 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

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely entertaining, July 4, 2001

By 

Colin Mcmillin "blind_and_mad_azag-thoth" (Columbia, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: King of Dead (Audio CD)

Cirith Ungol's second effort, King of the Dead, displays far more of what your average fan of heavy metal is looking for than did their first album, the sub-par Frost and Fire. King is much darker, much louder, and much better.

Actually, King's chief advantage over Frost is that the songs on King actually sound planned out, whereas the songs on Frost sound like something the band threw together to fill out the album. Everything improves from Frost to King. The guitar solos from Jerry Fogle highlight the album, and backing them up are the superb bass riffs of "Flint" Vujea, adding that extra depth and heaviness that make Cirith Ungol the excellent band they came to be. Highlighting the album are the tracks "Atom Smasher" "King of the Dead" "Finger of Scorn" (upon which you will hear one of the few examples of Cirith Ungol unplugged) and "Cirith Ungol" itself.

Don't let the band's obscurity keep you from getting this CD. If you like early Black Sabbath, you will almost certainly like King. But be warned: Tim Baker is the worst lead singer of all time. His "vocals" rarely rise above the virtuosity of two-note shrieks.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Metal Combining Doom and Majesty, July 5, 2002

By 

mbfthrasher (Renton, Washington United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King of Dead (Audio CD)

Let's make no mistake about it, Cirith Ungol is one of the greatest heavy metal bands ever. Ever (even though they were terribly short lived in the sense of getting any respect from a sorry ass record company). There is a lot of talk about the lead singer - if you like Halford, you will have no problem here. People just seem to get hung up on the singer and I don't quite get it because I think he is great. Since we are on the subject, the vocals are high pitched. What a concept for metal! He also has a doomy, dramatic singing style that fits their sound (subsequently Saint Vitus captured a similar vocal style with several singers). It's not death metal. It is clear, fantastic metal, but they don't tune low so it's not the crushing sound - it's "brighter" if that makes any sense. They capture an "epic" sound; a "majestic" larger than life sound - I'm no musician but it seems to have some roots in the anthemic sound of classical music but without sounding silly when played. It is just hard to describe; it's almost operatic (sorry, is that a word) at times. They take metal and introduce a larger than life science fiction sort of feeling to their music. But it is NOT power metal; it is HEAVY METAL that makes you want to grind your teeth and take prisoners. Now, lets talk about bass playing. You will not hear better bass playing. It is that simple, the bass is magnificent. And the lead guitar, well, it is magnificent also. This is Metal. It is not mean, ugly metal, it is pure and amazing. Buy this, it is fantastic. As Robert Garvin states it is their best effort in every way. Oh, and I know I'm going on but he drums his ass off on this album. Cheers!