CULTÖSAURUS ERECTUS

After three discs charting a more pop-influenced style, Cultosaurus Erectus finds Blue Oyster Cult steering back towards the murky, mysterious spirit of their early years on some of the songs (Unknown Tongue, Black Blade, Monsters) whilst retaining their radio-friendly AOR sound on others (Hungry Boys, the slightly overlong narrative song The Marshall Plan, or Lips In the Hills for instance).

Unknown Tongue, the album closer, seems to prefigure the sound of the better parts of Fire of Unknown Origin, the following album - and indeed both this album and that one were produced by Martin Birch, whose hard rock approach probably helped make this the most hard-edged and heavy Cult release since Secret Treaties. It's not on a par with that album, mind, but it's a decent stab at turning the weirdness dial back up.