Before you immediately rip this piece into little
shreds, not wanting to hear another word about the Lord of the Rings,
Frodo, Bilbo, or that ‘orrible green thing with a lisp, feel like
passing out if you have to view more hoards of Orcs majestically
sweeping down from the mountains in all their computerized glory, then
just hold on a minute. Anyway, if Gandalf was so clever why didn’t he
take the ring and chuck it down the gorge himself instead of making that
poor little hairy footed thing trudge miles over all that treacherous
terrain?
Mott the Dog is still a music column and these boys
from California probably thought it was bit of a wizzo idea to take
their name from Tolkien’s masterpiece for your up and coming heavy
metal rock band. (The gates of Cirith Ungol are in some Tower or other
that the little hobbits and their bunch of reject mates had to cross
before reaching their destiny. I don’t really know as I’d fallen
asleep after the first hour or so, and used to skip all the funny names
when I read the books.)
How were they to know that by the end of the
Millennium this Jackson bloke was going to turn New Zealand into a film
lot, use every actor presently out of work and turn them into stars,
employ every Kiwi left in New Zealand as an extra, and take up half a
decade making three movies of massive length and change the history of
the cinema forever? He probably didn’t even mention the gates of
Cirith Ungol or its tower in the filming to give the boys at least a bit
of exposure. Surprisingly they don’t sue. Well, by looking at the
album cover they might be thinking about it.
It was 1991 by the time Cirith Ungol released this,
their little masterpiece, of ‘Paradise Lost’ to the world of heavy
metal music. As with all bands of their ilk, they had been through a few
lineup changes while on the way to this moment of stability. Way too
many to mention, but suffice to say that some, if not all, escaped the
nasty gardening accidents, or being trapped in cocoons (no, no, I’m
not on about Fellowships of Rings again), or could find their way to the
stage, either were or are going to be in Spinal Tap.
The album opens up with ‘Join The Legion’, which
hurtles fairly out of the speakers. Your woofers and tweeters better be
in pretty good shape to take this kind of battering, I can tell you. The
band has been kind enough to inform us of their intentions by displaying
the lyrics on the inside sleeve of the cover.
“Our comrades in arms lying dead in the streets,
from choking on metal that’s spineless and weak.
The jackals are gloating with victory in hand, but
the last true believers rise up from the land.”
All good stirring stuff as you can see.
The band carries on in pretty similar fashion over
the next eight songs, including a stunning version of the Crazy World of
Arthur Brown’s ‘Fire’, which, if Arthur’s not crazy about now, I
expect he is furious.
‘Before the Lash’ I think is some kind of
political statement from the boys, whilst ‘Chaos Rising’ certainly
proves that not only can they play their instruments very loudly, but
very quickly too. In fact, I think you hear the poor old drummer fall
off his drum seat at the end.
If very heavy rockin’ is your bag, then Cirith
Ungol will be the band you have been waiting for all your life. Upon
buying this album it is always a kindness to soundproof the dog house.
Remember canines can hear things many humans cannot. Good luck to Cirith
Ungol. At least they don’t go on as long as the movies.
Thai
Culture and Society (ISBN 974-8303-83-7, Asia Books 2004) is a reprinting
of part of Roger Welty’s The Thai and I work first published in 1996.
This current impression is posthumous, printed after Roger Welty died in
2003, and the holders of the copyright (Asia Books) decided to split the
work into two books, this one and another entitled Successful Living in
Thailand.
Mott’s CD review: Cirith Ungol - Paradise Lost
1
Star for effort and nice cover