Osteographia, or The anatomy of the bones
William Cheselden (19 Oct 1688 – 10 Apr 1752) is author on a book. This image is called plate 36 (XXXVI).
See the further here on this site.
Skeleton (Patrick)
Praying Skeleton logo
The praying skeleton logo is our own design, dating back to around 1977.
– Greg Lindstrom
Draft logo
Eternal Flames: Who drew the praying skeletons?
They were something Greg came up with. We liked them and they stayed as our logo
– Robert Garven
This is the most common logo since 2003. It has been adapted by Falcon.
Dig the cool reverse “Cirith Falcon” logo!
Perry Grayson, 09 Nov 2003
See also Similar to Praying Skeleton.
Chaos Star, Wheel of Fate, Symbol of Chaos
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- Michael Moorcock’s Symbol of Chaos.
Next to the praying skeletons CU use the symbol of the chaos star. What’s behind that? Can you tell us anything about this symbol? Nowhere at all we found any information about the sign of the chaos star … (Other bands we found using the sign of the chaos stars on their LPs/logos etc. are Bolt Thrower and Sepultura…)
Eternal Flame
In the Moorcock books the CHAOS sign is described as a symbol with many arrows pointing in all directions symbolizing the many possibilities of CHAOS! The symbol of LAW was one arrow pointing up. We liked the idea of CHAOS and I designed the logo based on my readings of the book.
Robert Garven
We had a gigantic praying skeleton logo backdrop and sometimes the glowing Wheel of Fate logo off our album.
Robert Garven
Wheel of Fate logo and Chaos Star, is the same or different? Here is Symbol of Chaos.
The Lamp of Thoth has it’s own star logo. Also this covering Frost and Fire.
FROST & FIRE
Originally Performed by
CIRITH UNGOL
His own “Simon Iff?” aka “The Overtly Melancholic Lord Strange”.
Then I designed the logo of the band. It was an inverted cross set against the Chaos sphere symbol, and in-between the arrows were flowers. I had first seen this on the albums of one of my favourite bands Cirith Ungol. They had used it because of their fascination with Moorcock’s Elric. I wanted to use it because the inverted cross was supposed to symbolise mankind’s fall into matter; the symbol was the chaos which ensued from this union and the flower’s beauty which was the product of it.
See also Similar to Chaos Star.
Cirith Ungol
They took their name from the place 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”.
The “Cirith Ungol” is name of three alternatives:
- Cirith Ungol, the Elvish and means “Pass of the Spider”.
- Cirith Ungol, the Metal band.
- Cirith Ungol, the Metal song.
See the further song with Cirith Ungol and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Original Logo
The picture is part of one of the flyers that had the original Cirith Ungol logo. The original CU logo was designed by Rob Garven, who was a graphic illustrator.
Necronomicon
The font used is called Necronomicon (H. P. Lovecraft). In 1978 or earlier.
Hook and Cross
Some of them had Saturn crosses stuck in, like in BÖC’s logo.
What does the BOC logo mean?
We like to say it is an ancient symbol that means “Blue Oyster Cult”.
The BOC logo was created by Bill Gawlik, the artist who created the band’s first and second album covers. It is a stylization of the astronomical symbol for the planet Saturn. In the process of creating the album cover, Gawlick used a washer to separate the symbol into its 5 parts hook, bars and dot.
When the band was shown the artwork for the album cover, they instantly decided that it would be the perfect band logo, and that it is.
The hook-and-cross logo or Cross of Questioning, was designed by Bill Gawlik in January 1972. In Greek mythology, “… the hook-and-cross symbol is that of Kronos (Cronus), the king of the Titans and father of Zeus … and is the alchemical symbol for lead (a heavy metal), one of the heaviest of metals.” The hook-and-cross symbol also resembled the astrological symbol for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture, and the sickle, which is associated with both Kronos (Cronus) and Saturn (both the planet and the Roman god). The logo’s “… metaphysical, alchemical and mythological connotations, combined with its similarity to some religious symbols gave it a flair of decadence and mystery …”. Wikipedia.
Tarot
Tarot Card.
Garven: Halvar [The Planet Of Doom], he’s the protagonist guy in the movie. He’s kind of like a viking biker guy that travels through time to go back to kill the guy that murdered his wife. I can’t pronounce the monster’s name or whatever but anyway his name was Halvar. That’s the guy. So in our part of the thing he gets to like a cave and he goes in there meeting a witch. She reads his tarot cards, and while reading the tarot…
Baker: All you need to do is read the lyrics to “Witch’s Game.”
Garven: But yeah, he goes inside… I’m just telling you, that he goes inside each tarot card and he fights the monster.
Summary
Original artist | The band Cirith Ungol | Other bands |
Cover painting (Frank Frazetta) | First cover: "At the time we wanted a “Sword and Sorcery” theme cover called “Berserker” by Frank Frazetta, a famous sword and sorcery artist, but it was taken by the country rock band MOLLY HATCHET!" - Rob Second cover: v/a, amongst Cirith Ungol (Picture disc, 2016) | Dust, Nazareth, Molly Hatchet, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc. |
Cover painting - Elric (Michael Whelan) | Album (year) - King of the Dead (1977) - Elric in Exile (2012) | Same cover painting, but different font: Elric – Stormbringer, Antihero, Elric of Melnibon (all from 2017) |
Authors and his band also (Michael Moorcock) | Album (year) - Elric 1. Elric of Melniboné (Oct 1976) #2 Paradise Lost (1991) - Elric 2. The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Dec 1976)
- Elric 3. The Weird of the White Wolf (Mar 1977)
- Elric 4. The Vanishing Tower (Jun 1977)
- Elric 5. The Bane of the Black Sword (Oct 1977)
- Elric 6. Stormbringer (Nov 1977) | His own band: Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix |
Chaos Star (Michael Moorcock) | Cirith Ungol | The Lamp of Thoth, Eternal Champion, Helstar, Bolt Thrower, Attila, Slave Lunacy, Agent Steel, |
Praying Skeleton (William Cheselden - Osteographia) | Cirith Ungol | Black Oath, Minimum Syndicat, Archaeaeon, Prophets of Rage, Avenged Sevenfold, |
Hook and Cross (Bill Gawlik) | Cirith Ungol | Blue Öyster Cult |
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) | The band and the song: Cirith Ungol | Burzum, Gorgoroth, Morgoth, Amon Amarth, Isengard, etc |
Cover painting - others (Michael Whelan) | Witch’s Game (2018) | Sepultura, Meat Loaf, Obituary, Demolition Hammer, The Mist, Smoulder, Sacred Rite, Renegade, etc |
Necronomicon (H. P. Lovecraft) | Cirith Ungol (at least 1978-86) | Necronomicon (all of the bands) |
Pyramid, castle and mountain
