Cirith Ungol was a California based doom metal band that formed in 1972. The name means "Pass of the Spider". (It was a high pass in the land of Mordor where the monster known as Shelob lurked, in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series.) The lineup originally comprised of singer Tim Baker, guitarist Jerry Fogle, bassist Michael Flint, and drummer Robert Garvin. Cirith Ungol made its debut with a 1979 demo and released their first full lenght, Frost and Fire, in 1980. King of the Dead followed in 1984 but in the wake of 1986's One Foot in Hell, both Fogle and Flint left Cirith Ungol, and the band spent the next five years on hold eventually recruiting guitarist Jim Barraza and bassist Vernon Green for their fourth album, Paradise Lost. In the wake of Barraza's departure, Cirith Ungol disbanded in May of 1992.