The Orange Album

Heaviest Metal

A cassette demo known as self release, or “Demo Cassette Album“, “Demo cassette”, “Orange demo”, “Orange label”, “Orange cassette”, later “Orange album”, or simply as “Album”. Subtitle is “Heaviest Metal”. Limited to a few hundred copies. The repressed title is called “The Orange Album” from Dec 2020.

Well here’s a surprise for you all! Effective immediately… We present to you a faithful reproduction of our very first demo tape, widely known as “The Orange Album”! There was maybe 100 copies in circulation upon it’s release in 1978, but thankfully we were able to track down one lasting copy in the band’s collection. Today we are proud to reissue this for all who have been wondering what this thing actually sounded like.
This tape is limited to 666 numbered copies, and is available for you TODAY in the following…
Exclusive T-Shirt + Cassette Bundle available at the Iron Grip Bandcamp page (December 4th only)

Official press release blurb…
Cirith Ungol The Orange Album. This is a faithful reproduction of the original 1978 cassette tape, whose name derives from the distinctive bright orange j-card. The Orange Album was the earliest recording ever circulated by the band, who passed out home-dubbed copies to drum up record company interest and line up live show bookings. This is a piece of heavy metal history, shedding light on the origins of Cirith Ungol’s sound in its embryonic, evolutionary stage and featuring four lead vocalists. After being unavailable in any format for more than four decades, freshly remastered by Bart Gabriel but otherwise entirely true to the original release The Orange Album now sees the light of day once again.
– Official CU, 04 Dec 2020

Due to popular demand, we’ve produced 100 more copies of The Orange Album on cassette. It’s Bancamp Friday, so head over to the Iron Grip page and grab yours while supplies last!
– Official CU, 05 Feb 2021

The long-awaited repress of The Orange Album is here! We have 100 more copies of the cassette and 100 CDs in stock.
– Official CU, 02 Apr 2021

The orange cassette was a demo that we were giving to friends and I think we sent some out looking for a label.

The cassette demo “album” had an orange cover, and it was distributed at gigs. Some of the tunes on the orange cassette included “Show You All” sung by Rob, “Route 666” sung by Greg, “We Know You’re Out There” sung by exiting Neal Beattie and entering Tim Baker and “High Speed Love” sung by Tim Baker.

– Perry Grayson, 31 Jan 2006 

Video is from Dec 2020. Neil Beattie is still alive too, but he is missed on the video, unfortunately. Maybe the next time? I wish. Limited edition is 000454 of total 00666 in year 2020. The last song is also song about Route 666.

Personaly, I want to have this in addition:

1. I really hope that they have comments by Neil Beattie, e.g. video from Dec 2020, but Cirith Ungol avoided him.
2. I really hope that they have big booklet with the comments, lyrics, interviews, pictures and 11 paintings that they had made. But record label Iron Grip avoided all of this. See example of the song paintings that they could have printed out: Show You All, High Speed Love, King Tut Uncommon and Route 666.
3. CD, not CD-R. CD-R was on Iron Grip Records. The CD was re-released later only in Brazil.
4. jewel case, not digipak. Digipak was on Iron Grip Records. The jewelcase was later only in Brazil.
5. possibly bonus tracks.

Show You All, High Speed Love and Route 666 from the cover of Falcon. High Speed Love are from the Matt Baker’s The Cirith Ungol Legion MySpace group (dead link). Bite of the Worm and Witchdance are from the Orange tape and on Servants of Chaos. Atom Smasher has earlier from Orange tape. We Know You’re Out There are from the first Cirith Ungol MySpace.

We recorded a 12 track [ed: 11 track] demo cassette (the “Orange Album”) in 1979 [ed: 1978], which we sold locally and at shows. “Bite of the Worm” and “Witchdance” from that cassette are on “Servants Of Chaos”. We sent the cassette out to a lot of  record companies, but I think they were all looking for another Van Halen at that time, so we decided to release an album ourselves.

– Greg Lindstrom, Dark Tales 4/2002

VHS (German): Also zum Orange Album…..ich habe es gehört, besitze es aber nicht. Rob Garven hat es mir bei sich zuhause vorgespielt, als wir den Deal damals für dei Reunion klargemacht haben. Es gibt auch noch alte VHS aus den 70ern mit Jerry Fogle und Greg Lindström, die noch kein Mensch außerhalb Robs Haus gesehen hat. Das war ein sehr langer Abend/Nacht damals. Rob hat daheim ein Buch, bei dem er zu jedem Song des Orange Albums die Lyrics gemalt hat, immer zum Text passend. Ich hab da ein paar Fotos gemacht, muss ich bei Gelegenheit mal rauskramen.

– Oliver Weinsheimer (Deaf Forever forum and artist) from Keep it True.

Engineer and mixer

Dokorder – reel to reel tape recorders. Rob’s parent’s house using a Tascam mixer and a Dokorder 4 channel recorder.

Armed with their own Dokorder reel-to-reel 4 track recorder, Cirith Ungol whapped out a tape chock full of their blistering tunes.

– Perry Grayson, 31 Jan 2006

All the songs on this CD were recorded in our 10 x 14 practice room in Rob’s parents’ house on our trusty Dokorder 7140 4 track reel-to-reel and Teac Model 3 mixer.

– Greg Lindstrom, liner notes

Dokorder – Museum of Magnetic Sound Recording

TEAC. But which “Teac Model 3 mixer” for Cirith Ungol in 1978? This one?

The bootlegs and the genuines

• demo are the The Orange Album – December 1977 with pyramid yellow/orange background. Mr. Goniloc talked about records on video (30 May 2018) on Cirith Ungol. Amongst other thing, The Orange Album released maybe 2018, and is fake.
• the self-titled Cirith Ungol (1979) and cover is “Praying Skeleton” on white skeleton on black background. And it is also bootleg. Not sure about it’s date, but some years earlier. Maybe released 2002? I have never seen before, just media. Does it really exists the fake demo in real, or just Internet?
• On the cassette, what is the source for it? Where’s the sound coming from? Is it real rehearsal tape, or just a fan bootleg?
• On Demo ’79 is bootleg it is just a bootleg. Where’s the sound coming from?

LP: US (Liquid Flame Records; HM13666)

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