Throughout the 1970s, the band generally played a style of heavy metal heavily rooted in hard and progressive rock. The band's first studio album, Frost and Fire (1981), featured a heavier sound, generally regarded as an early example of American power metal. By the band's second studio album, King of the Dead (1984), the band had solidified their power metal style of playing while gravitating toward a much 'darker' sound, with many considering the album among the first doom metal releases. The band took their name from the mountain pass Cirith Ungol in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The name is Elvish and means "Pass of the Spider." While the place in Tolkien's book is pronounced "kirith ungol," the band pronounced it "sirith ungol. Each studio album's cover art is taken from the cover of a DAW Books edition of a book in Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné saga; the art is by Michael Whelan.
Greg Lindstrom, Robert Garven, Jerry Fogle and Pat Galligan (later a guitarist in Angry Samoans) played in Titanic, their first band in junior high school. With a desire to play heavier music similar to that of Mountain and Grand Funk Railroad, the rest of the band parted with Galligan and founded Cirith Ungol in late 1971. After forming in late 1971, the band played their first gig on January 1, 1972 at an anti-Vietnam war peace rally.
In 1980, they were signed by Liquid Flames Records, and released their first album, Frost and Fire, with Tim Baker on vocals and songs written by bassist and guitarist Greg Lindstrom. Their second album, King of the Dead was released in on July 2, 1984 and contained lyrics primarily written by vocalist Tim Baker and drummer Robert Garven. The album was then followed by One Foot in Hell on August 12, 1986, and Paradise Lost on August 23, 1991.
They played their last live show on December 13, 1991 and disbanded in 1992, following frustration with their record label.
In 2001, Metal Blade Records released in Germany Servants of Chaos, a compilation album of unreleased demos and live songs. With old tapes and assistance from Lindstrom and Garven, it was an attempt to give fans a wealth of archival and previously unheard material before the tapes deteriorated beyond retrieval. This double-CD was later re-released worldwide, with a rare 1984 live DVD recorded at Wolf & Rissmiller's Country Club in California. Founding guitarist Jerry Fogle died from liver failure on August 20, 1998.
The band was reformed by members Tim Baker, Robert Garven, Jim Barraza, and Greg Lindstrom on October 8, 2016 at the 2nd annual Frost and Fire Festival in Ventura, California. Throughout 2017, the band had set out to headline and co-headline several European and US festivals, including Keep It True (Germany), Up The Hammers (Greece), Defenders Of The Old (US), Chaos Descends (Germany), Psycho Las Vegas (US), Days Of Darkness (US) and Hammer of Doom (Germany). In April 2018, Cirith Ungol performed at the Hell's Heroes Festival in Houston, Texas and at the NYDM Spring Bash in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In August 2018, Cirith Ungol released the single "Witch's Game". Their latest record Forever Black was released on April 24, 2020.
Heaven Help Us
Cirith Ungol Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Slowly but surely it s genocide, the fate that we shall meet.
We say we are the civilized, none as advanced as we,
Seeking the knowledge of space and time,
As we poison the earth, the sea, and sky...
All we see is the ground beneath our feet, never looking twice,
Take a look around the world at all the ignorant sacrifice.
Never thought twice about a living thing or
All of the future tears we II cry.
The fact is without a doubt,
Our time is running out,
Heaven help us.
Tons of acid and toxic waste, are dumped in the air we breathe,
Millions of barrel of nuclear waste, beneath the earth and sea,
The price of pollution cannot be set, it s an unworldly cost.
The damage is done and we cannot forget, the senseless
And needless lost of life...
Slowly building up, like a time bomb ticking away,
No one seems to care, that our world is wasting away.
Someday we II be sorry and we'll have ourselves to blame,
No one wants to admit the fact that we live our lives in vain
To die.
The lyrics of "Heaven Help Us" by Cirith Ungol are a warning about the devastating consequences of mankind's disregard for nature and the environment. The song describes how we have become blinded by our quest for progress and material wealth, to the point that we are causing our own extinction. The crystal ball mentioned in the beginning of the song represents a metaphor for foresight and insight into the future. The lyrics suggest that, if allowed to continue on our current path, our fate will inevitably be genocide, caused by our own actions.
The second verse highlights our wilful ignorance towards the destruction we are causing. The song accuses us of being blinded by profit and neglecting the consequences of our actions. The damage is already done and the toll on human life and nature is inevitable. The song paints a bleak picture of a future full of regret.
In the chorus, the band urgently calls for divine intervention: "Heaven help us." The band is aware that mankind may have gone beyond redemption. The lyrics depict how man-made wastes have contaminated the earth, air, and sea, and that humankind has unleashed an "unworldly cost". The song describes the slow building of a "time bomb ticking away," which suggests that the consequences of our neglect will soon catch up with us.
Line by Line Meaning
As I gaze into my crystal ball, I II tell you what I see,
Looking ahead with foresight, what I see is impending doom and inevitable destruction.
Slowly but surely it s genocide, the fate that we shall meet.
We are slowly causing our own demise through our actions and choices.
We say we are the civilized, none as advanced as we,
We often proclaim ourselves as the most advanced and civilized society.
Seeking the knowledge of space and time,
Our desire for knowledge extends beyond Earth to space and time.
As we poison the earth, the sea, and sky...
But in doing so, we are destroying our own planet, polluting the land, water, and air.
All we see is the ground beneath our feet, never looking twice,
We are blinded by our own self-interest, focusing only on what's immediately in front of us.
Take a look around the world at all the ignorant sacrifice.
If we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, we can see the consequences of our choices, often at the expense of others.
Profit was the main thing on our agenda through all of the years,
Our primary motive has always been profit, with little thought given to the long-term consequences.
Never thought twice about a living thing or
We have been callous towards the natural world and all its living things.
All of the future tears we II cry.
Our actions will lead to much grief and sorrow in the future.
The fact is without a doubt,
It is an undeniable truth that our time is running out.
Our time is running out,
The clock is ticking, and we are quickly running out of time.
Heaven help us.
We are crying out for divine intervention, hoping for a miracle to save us from ourselves.
Tons of acid and toxic waste, are dumped in the air we breathe,
We are responsible for dumping tons of deadly pollutants into the air we breathe.
Millions of barrel of nuclear waste, beneath the earth and sea,
We have carelessly disposed of millions of barrels of nuclear waste, and it continues to affect our environment.
The price of pollution cannot be set, it s an unworldly cost.
The true cost of our pollution cannot be quantified in monetary terms; it is an otherworldly, terrible price to pay.
The damage is done and we cannot forget, the senseless
The damage has already been done, and we cannot ignore the senseless destruction that has taken place.
And needless lost of life...
Our actions have needlessly cost many lives, human and otherwise.
Slowly building up, like a time bomb ticking away,
Our actions are slowly but surely building towards inevitable destruction, like a ticking time bomb.
No one seems to care, that our world is wasting away.
It appears that nobody truly cares about the destruction we are causing to the planet.
Someday we II be sorry and we'll have ourselves to blame,
We will someday regret the actions we have taken, and we will only have ourselves to blame for the consequences.
No one wants to admit the fact that we live our lives in vain
Nobody wants to acknowledge the sad truth that our lives have not been spent fulfilling a greater purpose.
To die.
Our actions will inevitably lead to our own deaths, as well as the deaths of countless other living beings.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: ROBERT WARRENBURG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind