Cirith Ungol
From left to right: Jerry Fogle, Michael "Flint" Vujea, Robert Garven, & Tim Baker
Background information
Origin	Ventura, California, United States
Genre(s)	Heavy metal Hard Rock Progressive Rock Doom Metal
Years active	1972 - 1992
Label(s)	Liquid Flame Records Metal Blade Records
Associated acts	Titanic Falcon
Website	http://www.truemetal.org/cirithungol/
Members
Robert Garven(1972-1992) Greg Lindstrom (1972-1982) Jerry Fogle (1972-1986) (deceased) Neal Beattie (aka Ptery Dactyl) (1975) Tim Baker(1975-1992) Michael "Flint" Vujea (1980-1986) Jimmy Barraza(1986-1991) Bob Warenburg (1991) (uncredited) Joe Malatesta (1991) (uncredited) Vern Green(1991)

Cirith Ungol was a Californian heavy metal band, who formed in 1972 and split up in May of 1992. They drew influences from other metal groups such as Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, and Iggy and the Stooges. Their first album, Frost and Fire, was closer to a hybrid between 1970s hard rock and metal with songs written by then bassist/guitarist Greg Lindstrom and drummer Robert Garven, but from King of the Dead and onwards they played a progressive rock influenced brand of doom metal with songs primarily written by vocalist Tim Baker. Image File history File links P04. ... Ventura is the name of several places in the United States of America: Ventura, California Ventura, Iowa Ventura County, California Ventura may also refer to one of the following people: Charlie Ventura, American band leader Jean-Baptiste Ventura (ca. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1969 and 1974,[1] took the rock music basis to create some aesthetic with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... For the unrelated Swedish music movement, see progg. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Media:rofl. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Metal Blade Records is an independent record label which was founded in 1981 by Brian Slagel. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1969 and 1974,[1] took the rock music basis to create some aesthetic with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised... For other uses, see Black Sabbath (disambiguation). ... Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band who formed in Dublin in 1969. ... The Stooges 1969 debut Not to be confused with The Three Stooges. ... Frost and Fire is the debut album by the Heavy Metal band Cirith Ungol. ... King of the Dead is the 2nd Cirith Ungol LP. Produced by Cirith Ungol. ...

History

It all started with Greg Lindstrom, Robert Graven, Jerry Fogle and Pat Galligan (Who would later go on to play guitar for Angry Samoans}, who were playing in their first band "Titanic" when they were in high school together. With a desire to play heavier music, the rest of the band dumped Pat and reformed in 1972 as Cirith Ungol with Neal Beattie on vocals. It wasn't until 1980 that they got signed by Enigma and released their first record Frost And Fire with Tim Baker on vocals. After their fourth album Paradise Lost, they split up due to frustration caused by problems with their new record company. 2001 saw the light of a new Cirith Ungol album which contained old and unreleased demos and songs, but no new material. The album was supported by both Greg and Rob, but not by Tim. The Angry Samoans are an early-ish Los Angeles punk band, formed by rock critics Metal Mike Saunders and Gregg Turner. ... Frost and Fire is the debut album by the Heavy Metal band Cirith Ungol. ... Paradise Lost is the last Cirith Ungol LP. Released in 1991 on Restless Records. ...

Lindstrom now plays with his new band Falcon, who play some old Cirith Ungol songs.

The name

They took their name from one of the two towers, Cirith Ungol in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The name Cirith Ungol is elvish and means "Pass of the Spider". While the tower in Tolkien's book is pronounced "kirith ungol", the band pronounced it "sirith ungol". The band said in a later interview they had some problems with the name The Tower of Cirith Ungol by Alan Lee The Tower of Cirith Ungol is a building in the The Lord of the Rings. ... John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE (January 3, 1892 – September 2, 1973) was a South African-born, English philologist, writer and university professor who is best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as many other works. ... This article is about the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. ...

Everyone in the band was a big "Sword and Sorcery" literature fan, especially Greg [Lindstrom, guitars] and I. He would always turn us on to the great writers who gave us inspiration for our music. We read all the books... Conan, Bran Mak Morn, etcetera, but the books that stood out in my mind are Michael Moorcock's masterpieces: Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum among others. Greg Lindstrom and I met at an English Literature class where the teacher was reading Lord of the Rings... and Greg and I read it and it had an influence on our music and feelings. In retrospect I wish we had picked something easier to remember because a lot of our trouble has been over our name. People couldn't pronounce it or remember it, but we figured once they did they wouldn't forget it! We've humorously been called "Sarah's Uncle" and "Serious Uncool," for example! I know other bands are using the Tolkien angle. Led Zeppelin even made references to it in their earlier songs. I think he was an influence both then and now on many people. ~Robert Garven

I remember some other possible band names we were considering: Minas Tirith, Khazad Dum, and Uruk Hai, all names from "The Lord Of The Rings". Rob and I both liked J.R.R. Tolkien and Enzo Ferrari, so we knew our songs would cover both those subjects! ~Greg Lindstrom

Discography

Studio Albums

• Frost and Fire (1980)
• King of the Dead (1984)
• One Foot in Hell (1986)
• Paradise Lost (1991)

Frost and Fire is the debut album by the Heavy Metal band Cirith Ungol. ... King of the Dead is the 2nd Cirith Ungol LP. Produced by Cirith Ungol. ... One Foot in Hell is the 3rd Cirith Ungol LP. Produced by Brian Slagel and Cirith Ungol. ... Paradise Lost is the last Cirith Ungol LP. Released in 1991 on Restless Records. ...

Compilation Albums

• Metal Massacre 1 (compilation appearance, 1982)
• Best of Metal Blade, Vol. 2 (compilation appearance, 1988)
• Live (EP, 1996)
• Double Whammy (compilation appearance, 1999)
• Servants of Chaos (rare tracks-compilation, 2001)
• Metal Blade 20th Anniversary (compilation appearance, 2002)
• One Foot In Fire (tribute album, 2006)

External links

• Official Cirith Ungol website
• Official Falcon website
• An interview with Rob and Greg
• An interview with Robert
• And interview with Greg
• Cirith Ungol at MySpace