Imaginos [Import]

 

 

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Blue Oyster Cult are no strangers to bombastic camp. Their quirky lyrics and musical style marries harmoniously to intricate, unique hard rock and heavy metal that no other band seems able to imitate. After a string of highly successful albums which peaked with 1981's 'Fire Of Unknown Origin,' BOC began to stumble a bit with the Aldo Nova-inspired 'The Revölution by Night' and 'Club Ninja,' two records which tried to duplicate past success by streamlining the music. Proving they were no one-trick ponies, BOC fired back with 'Imaginos,' an absolutely thrilling and majestic heavy metal album with more surprises than any band should be physically capable of throwing.

'Imaginos' is a concept album, but don't let that scare you. The complexity of the album's lyrics and setting makes it almost impossible for most people to grasp just what the band is going on about. Imaginos is actually a superhuman child who has been granted his powers by "Les Invisibles," a mysterious and ancient race of unknown origin who have been manipulating him down through the years to pave the way for his journey to Mexico to find a long lost artifact, the Magna of Illusion which ends up corrupting the minds of various European leaders. This sets up the brooding turmoil and eventual onset of World War I.

BOC bit off quite a mouthful with this record, but you wouldn't know it. In typical BOC tradition, the first song on the album, "I Am The One You Warned Me Of" is not the strongest. It prefers to set an average groove for the rest of the record to build on. "Les Invisibles" is as typical of mid-80s hard rock as you can expect, laying down a 1-2, 1-2-2 drum beat alongside chugging, reverb-drenched guitars and processed vocals with some clever lyrical timings thrown in for good measure. "In The Presence of Another World" conjures thoughts of Dio-inspired dark fantasy rock with high speed guitar solos and synth-piano bridge sections. From there, things take an infectious pop turn with "Del Rio's Song," quite possibly the best track on the entire album with a sing-along chorus and feverish pitch that is sure to set lead-foots everywhere back a few hundred dollars in speeding tickets. It only gets better with the oddly named "The Siege and Investiture of Baron von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria," complete with the one and only Joe Satriani picking up lead guitar duties. A more thorough and slower song, "Siege" brings back memories of "Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver" with snarl-howl vocals and more heavy attack which softens in the last act with an almost tear-jerking vocal crescendo and beautiful atmosphere. It just keeps getting better with "Astronomy," a galloping rising force epic driven by an infectious, "Hey! Hey Hey!" and speed-blues guitar soloing that you just want to hear go on forever. "Magna of Illusion" gives the listener a breather, telling a story while focusing on precise instrumental arrangements which dodges predictions with a snappy half-chorus and electric piano, and quirky lyrics in tow (..."taken from the jungle by crime!"). "Blue Oyster Cult" is an interesting take on the band's namesake, and "Imaginos" wraps up the album with a slightly quieter pop approach to straight laced metal. The chronology of events in the story of the album makes the order of songs somewhat ambiguous, but all this can be taken with a grain of salt.

'Imaginos' comes dangerously close to falling into the same pop-rock mold of the mid-80s that other bands like ZZ Top did. There's more reverb here than you can shake three sticks at, and that 80s metal guitar tone won't sound any newer this time 'round, but the band uses their songwriting expertise to rebound from the edge just in time. It's intense enough for headbangers, intelligent enough for prog-rock fanatics, and accessible enough for the average ear to be an excellent all-around record. It may not be the best album for first-time Oysters (that privilege is reserved for 'Fire of Unknown Origin') but one could do far worse. At its worst, 'Imaginos' is a metal album with a sound that is permanently fixed in a particular time period. At its best, it's a perfect reminder of what can happen when vigorously inspired musicians cram into a studio and decide to let all their crazy ideas out to play around with. Music like this doesn't exist anymore, and that's the ultimate tragedy.

Albert Bouchard was Blue Oyster Cult's best songwriting secret.
It's a shame that this band's worst infighting and conflict happened during this time. This is easily the album that many B.O.C. fans including myself, wanted to see them make. A little hard to fully understand, this album boasts a pletora of soaring guitars with axe heavyweights such as Robbie Krieger and Joe Satriani and Jack Rigg. I wished that all of us could have heard the long lost demos of this album, originally slated as an Albert Bouchard solo project. The Lovecraftian quality of the album as well as its front and back cover easily suggests that this group overdosed on horror films a long time ago.

I LOVE BOC and this CD didn't disappoint me in the least!If you like BOC get this CD. I highly Recommend it!

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3.0 out of 5 stars Great Album for BOC Fans
This is an album the Blue Oyster Cult fans will really get into, a concept album that showcases the bands unique song stylings. Read more

Published on July 14 2004 by Graboidz

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous
I actually have this album on CD and it's superb; I don't think the band did anything comparable over the rest of their career, tho Cultosaurus Erectus has its moments (first... Read more

Published on April 19 2004 by I. Bland

5.0 out of 5 stars An unknown classic from the CULT!
Having been a huge B.O.C. fan from the first album on, I found myself decreasingly interested in their output after the third album "Secret Treaties" (although I have... Read more

Published on Mar 17 2004 by David Parker

5.0 out of 5 stars A bestseller of a novel trapped in an album. Scary stuff.
This is possibly B.O.C.'s finest hour. Seven years in the making (although the germ is arguably twice as old), 'Imaginos' signified a group healthily obsessed with its own... Read more

Published on Nov 12 2003 by Johnny S Geddes

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome
I was never that into BOC back in the day. I was so sick of hearing their "hits" (Reaper, Godzilla, etc) that it kept me from ever exploring their stuff. Read more

Published on Oct 26 2003

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