FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN

A deliciously dark and often eerie album with a hard rock surface and a prog rock attitude, "Fire of Unknown Origin" was perhaps the most accessible and, coincidentally, best album created by Blue Oyster Cult in their long career. The track selection, sequence, and overall atmosphere is beyond reproach, with the whole surely bigger than the sum of its parts.

Yet this opus contains numerous superb individual efforts, from the feel good hit "Burning for You", to the mysterious Moorcock-penned "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" to the frightening two-fer"Sole Survivor" and "Vengeance", to the silly yet suspenseful "Joan Crawford". The closer "Don't Turn Your Back" is perhaps the best expression of the BOC obsession with Death since "Don't Fear the Reaper", but, unlike that massive hit, it bears nary a scent of influences. The song has an irresistible rhythm and Bloom's vocals are emotive yet subdued. The keyboard textures here and, really, throughout the album, make it clear that BOC was a band that believed in production values without succumbing to them. "Fire of Unknown Origin" is a classic album from one of America's more underrated bands.