King of the Dead (album)

King of the Dead is the second album by Cirith Ungol. It was produced by Cirith Ungol and released July 1984 on Enigma Records. It was re-released September 1999 on Metal Blade Records.

Robert Garven in an interview:

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.

Greg Lindstrom, who left the band two years prior to this album - 1982, says:

"Atom Smasher", "Cirith Ungol", and "Death of the Sun" were all songs we had written together in the mid 70's, and "Finger of Scorn" was one of my songs that the band used with my blessing.

Another Michael Moorcock inspired drawing acts as the album's cover: it is entitled "King of the Dead" and was painted by Michael Whelan.

Track listing

All songs written by Cirith Ungol, except where noted.

1. "Atom Smasher" 4:12
2. "Black Machine" 4:16
3. "Master of the Pit" 7:09
4. "King of the Dead" 6:49
5. "Death of the Sun" 3:54
6. "Finger of Scorn" (Greg Lindstrom) 8:34
7. "Toccata in Dm" (Johann Sebastian Bach) 4:37
8. "Cirith Ungol" 6:24
9. "Last Laugh" (Live bonus track only on remastered version) 4:22

Personnel

• Tim Baker - Vocals
• Robert Garven - Drums, Percussion
• Jerry Fogle - Guitars
• Michael Vujea - Bass

References