Live albums have always sparked debate—especially among metal fans, who, after all these decades, remain die-hard collectors, fiercely loyal to physical formats in a way few in the wider music community are.
In an era of skyrocketing costs and diminishing surprise in what one might hear in a new recording, pressing a concert performance to vinyl or CD format can feel like a luxury.
But live albums are not a new argument.
Why even listen to one?
The songs are already familiar, the performance is often doctored to the point of deception, audience reactions are overdubbed, and the tracklist usually reads like a safe best-of sampler.
And yet—there is an answer to the why, and it’s right there in the name: these albums are LIVE!
Personally, I love them—and I’m happy to own loads of them!
That raw, immediate, unfiltered sound that captures reality. The ecstatic crowd, screaming in frenzy. A band pushing themselves to their limits. That mystical bond between audience and musicians…
…How can you NOT love that?
That, after all is —or at least should be— the very essence of a live album.
Especially in metal, this is the genre’s lifeblood, its culmination, the undeniable proof that it thrives and reigns supreme, right there, where it truly belongs: in the live setting. Be it in a thousands-seat arena or a tiny, local club, history is forged not only on albums but in live appearances.
From the roars and the theatrical grandeur of IRON MAIDEN’s “Live After Death” to the raw ferocity of SLAYER’s “Decade of Aggression”, live albums were never just concert recordings—they were continuations of the mythic ’70s legacy, testimonies of their era, monuments to the unbreakable, organic bond between band and audience. They are shrines to a culture of music born on stage.
Yet, I agree—their value is never guaranteed.
Each time, the same question arises: is this a genuine document or a carefully staged illusion? How “live” is a live album when half the vocals are being overdubbed in a studio and the drums are re-recorded months later?
On the other hand, when everything is kept as real as possible—the breaths, the flaws, the audience chanting every line—then something truly irreplaceable is born.
Heavy metal, more than any other genre perhaps, literally lives through its communion with the crowd. The shared shouts with the vocalist, the mosh pits, the headbanging, the sing-alongs, the voices demanding an encore—these are not extras, they are part of the sound itself. That’s why a great live album must capture and amplify this energy.
A live album is memory, ritual, identity.
But a memorable, truly great live recording is a gamble: it can immortalize a band at their peak—or expose them mercilessly. So, with every new release, one must ask: is this a snapshot of live glory, or merely a well-disguised distraction until the next studio effort?
In the case of “Live at the Roxy”, the answer is equal parts ecstatic energy and fascinating awe: this is an absolutely GREAT live album, shrouded in undying metallic flames and the primal majesty of the sound we love.
Some live albums capture a concert, others a tour.
This one captures a LEGEND!
One of the world’s most iconic music venues—the Sunset Strip’s Roxy Theatre—hosted a legendary 2024 gig by one of the world’s most iconic metal bands—CIRITH UNGOL. The one-night-only performance was an album release show for the band’s 2023 “Dark Parade”. It captured the lineup at the height of its considerable powers, performing the album in its entirety, along with a set of emblematic classic songs.
Band co-founder and drummer Rob Garven comments: “I think we are playing better now than we did back in the day, circa “King of the Dead”. Onstage I wear in-ear monitors and have felt tears in my eyes when the music sounds so accurate to what we recorded so many years ago!”
Yes, it’s true; for almost forty damn years we didn’t have a live album from CIRITH UNGOL and now, after their double live album “I’m Alive”, we have ANOTHER double live recording in only six years!
Indeed – those six years brought us two magnificent studio albums, “Forever Black” and “Dark Parade”, one marvelous EP, “Half Past Human”, and also, the replacement of the long-timer guitarist Jim Barraza with NIGHT DEMON’s Armand Anthony.
So, yeah, there WAS a good reason for the band to show themselves and prove they’re alive and kicking and what better way than with a white-hot, energy radiating live album that shatters all expectations?
The first CD/LP contains a stunning, complete live rendition of 2023 album “Dark Parade” – a full-frontal assault of raw power, burning passion, and an almost mythic theatricality. Those who thought the studio version was the peak may need to reconsider. The band plays with surgical precision and a fury that recalls ancient demonic epics—a fierce reminder that they still reign atop their own unique metal mountain.
And just when you think they’ve given it all, they take a breath… only to return with the classics. And that’s when the experience truly soars: “Frost and Fire”, “Master of the Pit”, “Atom Smasher”, “King of the Dead”, “Blood and Iron”, “I’m Alive”—not merely performed, but reborn. The band sounds tougher, weathered, with less polish, but far more truth, the wisdom of wear and tear, and the sheer refusal to quit. The curtain falls with “Join the Legion” and it COULD NOT be better!
The classic CIRITH UNGOL tracks played at the Roxy meshed perfectly with “Dark Parade” songs, which drew raves from the packed crowd. In writing “Dark Parade” songs, vocalist and lyricist Tim Baker recalls, “Like the best horror writers, our main goal has always been to make something totally dark and doomy all the way through — an unrelenting journey into the particular chaos which is CIRITH UNGOL.”
The guitars scrape, the drums hammer with intent, the bass and the crowd burns like a ritual flame uniting band and myth. And even if something feels missing—like more material from “Forever Black” or “Half Past Human” as “The Frost Monstreme” cannot fill the gap alone— there’s no room left be any grumbling.
Nor time, I should add – 105 minutes are WAY MUCH time for letting anyone grumbly!
For many of us, this isn’t just a live album. It’s how we salute a band that has reached greatness not through sales charts, but through honor, conviction, and a singular identity that stayed untainted.
At first I thought that this could be their final live document but it seems that this is not the case at all.
“THE WHO made an extremely powerful album with “Live at Leeds”, and my favorite band of all time, MOUNTAIN, had several pretty spectacular live albums. And 1993’s URIAH HEEP’s Live is another outstanding live album! It’s hard to capture accurately all the sound and feeling of a live concert. I think these bands achieved that, and I think our Live at the Roxy does also.” says Rob Garven.
Thrilled as they are about the “Live at the Roxy” double album set and DVD, CIRITH UNGOL are already looking forward to making a new record – as Garven concludes, “This will make fans happy until our next devastatingly heavy seventh studio LP!”
Now, THAT’s some SERIOUSLY GOOD NEWS but until then, let’s give it for Tim Baker (vocals), Greg Lindstrom (guitar), Robert Garven (drums), Armand John Anthony (guitar) and Jarvis Leatherby (bass), for these guys have done it; they brought out the REAL DEAL, a BEAST of live album, for all those who love traditional, epic, honest heavy metal.
Either a CIRITH UNGOL fan, or not I strongly suggest – don’t miss it!
“Live at the Roxy” was released on April 25th digitally and as a Double CD/DVD set or Double LP/DVD set by Metal Blade Records.
Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
You can order both the DCD/DVD and DLP/DVD here.
