FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN

Now here's a nice artsy classic rock album you should know about. 'Fire of Unknown Origin' is the eighties answer to the catchy tour the force 'Secret Treaties' album from '74. Blue Oyster Cult has always coined itself as a 'heavy metal' band - even naming a song on this album to the genre. I would however suggest that if Blue Oyster Cult were 'heavy metal', so would David Bowie, Spirit and The Who. On this album I hear a gentle poppy rock group that happens to have some strong ideas about songwriting and the accompanying sound pallets. The bass guitar is particularly articulated in the mix, the synth are a bit typical of its time, but mostly this is a fairly unsurprising continuation of the seventies sound of the band.

Listening to this album for the first few times I was quite surprised how nice it can be to be able familiarize oneself with a new record in such little time. The album's pace and early succession of winning songs like the the Patti Smith cover & title song, the pleasant enough radio song 'Burnin' for You' and the more melodic synth driven tunes 'Veteran of a Thousand Psychic Wars' and 'Sole Survivor' - all fine memorable songs. The before mentioned 'Heavy Metal' is the first weaker song, but the peeps en shrieks of chorussy guitars are a nice detail. On side two the band opens and closes strongly with 'Vengeance' and the very catchy and atmospheric 'Don't Turn You Back' - with again a leading role for the bass guitar of Joseph Bouchard.

The melodic synth-driven songs are - not surprisingly - the most interesting for listeners of progressive rock, but the album is a strong record in its entirety. If you enjoy albums like Deep Purple's 'Burn', The Who's 'Quadrophenia' or 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' chances are you will greatly enjoy this album as well. The artwork on my vinyl print of CBS is also worth mentioning. For a classic rock album this deserves four stars.