Blue Öyster Cult remain a band that tease me. One of those I feel should be made for me to obsess over, but the pieces don’t come together like they should. But I’ll be trying them until I can’t see the potential anymore. I was initially worried Fire of Unknown Origin would be a single-driven album. It was technically, but not literally. The riff in “Burnin’ for You” is just too delicious to deny, even if it sinfully flirts with my dreaded genre, AOR (there’s also a disturbing amount of corny epic arena interludes on other tracks…) I may even like it more than that song with the cowbell now, even though they’re night and day.

I respect the band’s creativity and plethora of spacey and psychedelic structures, styles, and lyrical inspirations on this album, but it doesn’t come to much if “Burnin’ for You” is still the one with all the immediacy. That’s why it’s so odd. Fire of Unknown Origin, in my opinion, has one amazing single and not much else—but they were definitely trying? The other songs don’t feel like filler. You never make it easy to not love you, Blue Öyster Cult. Still, that’s what makes them remain endearing to me. I won’t give up!