GULT HEROES
When Blue Öyster Cult last saw fit to release a studio album, the newly elected US president George W Bush was busy arranging furniture in the White House, Holland had become the first nation to green-light same-sex marriages, and New York was still several months away from the 9/11 terror attacks. Yes, it was that long ago.
In stark contrast to the halcyon days of the 1970s and early 80s, when the Big Apple-resident band enjoyed a run of best-selling albums and even a global smash hit single, (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, the new millennium saw them appear to run out of steam. Classic Rock awarded that last album, 2001’s Curse Of The Hidden Mirror, a mere two stars out of five, and when lukewarm sales prompted their record label to quietly drop them, BÖC’s days as a recording act seemed numbered.
Since then they have hardly seemed anxious to release new music. As recently as mid-2016, when enquired about the possibility, guitarist/frontman Eric Bloom replied: “I’ve no answer to that question, except that I’m open-minded.” When pressed on whether he would to make a record, he shrugged:
