Search - Blue Oyster Cult :: Tyranny & Mutation

BOC's second album delivers

Joker | Michigan | 03/11/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Tyranny And Mutation (1973) is a great mixture of hard rock, pop rock, and whatever you want to call Blue Oyster Cult's unique sound, especially on this album. The lyrics are on the intelligent side, as are most lyrics by this band. With rockers such as O.D.'d On Life Itself, The Red & The Black, Hot Rails To Hell, 7 Screaming Diz-Busters, Baby Ice Dog, Wings Wetted Down, Teen Archer, and the semi-funky Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl), this album is diverse and pretty catchy. BOC is one of the great hard rock bands of all time, with one of the greatest and most underrated guitarists of all time, Donald Roeser. This is a band where every band member sings songs as the lead singer. Not many bands do that. Eric Bloom is their main lead singer with Donald Roeser also singing quite a few songs, followed by occasional songs sung by the other members of the band. That's one reason why Blue Oyster Cult isn't easily identifiable to a lot of people. Not only do they allow all band members to be in the lead singer role, but the band also changes their overall sound very frequently from album to album, much like Rush and Motley Crue do.



If you want to rock Blue Oyster Cult style and are into their earlier material, then this album is one to get. This album, their self-titled debut album (1972) and Secret Treaties (1974) are all good. If you're just getting into BOC because you've heard some hits on the radio, then I would start with Agents Of Fortune (1976), Spectres (1977), or Fire Of Unknown Origin (1981)."