New York’s own rock vets Blue Öyster Cult have announced their new studio full-length album, ‘The Symbol Remains,’ which is set for release on October 9, 2020 via Frontiers Music Srl (pre-order, get the limited pressing here).
Here’s more info from this morning’s reveal:
Coming nearly two decades after the release of their last studio album, “Curse of the Hidden Mirror,” the album showcases a band who hasn’t been slowed by the time passed, but simply unphased by it. “The Symbol Remains” is one of the band’s most spirited, diverse, and inspired releases to date.
As the old saying goes, “good things come to those who wait” and the 14 songs showcased on “The Symbol Remains” embody that. The BÖC faithful will be delighted given that the band has delivered an extremely inspired album. Ultimately, this sounds like a band looking back at their storied catalog and giving the fans a bit of everything they’ve ever loved about BÖC, while simultaneously continuing to evolve.
Blue Öyster Cult started sessions for the new album in earnest in 2019, bringing songs to the table that had previously been in the works as well as working on new ones. The goal was to craft an album that gives an appropriate portrait of where the band is in the here and now.
Eric Bloom (lead vocals, stun guitar, keyboards, synthesizers) says:
With the song demos emerging for this record, we realized there was as much if not more variety in style and content on this record as any in our history. We embraced this and the thing tying all the disparate elements together is the band’s sound and performance.
The album title, “The Symbol Remains” comes from a quote of an old Sandy Pearlman lyric, which basically we are using to show that the band is back and still rocking after all these years. To me, it means we’re still here and doing what we do…
Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser (lead guitar, vocals) comments:
The goal was for the new music to stand up to the quality and vitality of our legacy recordings, and I believe we have successfully done that. Other than that, the sound of our voices and style of our writing and playing can’t help but sound familiar to fans of our work.
We wanted to record the current band’s lineup for some time and the result of Jules, Danny, Richie, Eric and myself giving our all on “The Symbol Remains” speaks for itself.
In addition and to coincide with the LP’s announcement, the band have unleashed two brand new singles: “That Was Me” and “Box In My Head” which you can check out below.
Tracklisting:
1. That Was Me
2. Box In My Head
3. Tainted Blood
4. Nightmare Epiphany
5. Edge Of The World
6. The Machine
7. Train True (Lennie’s Song)
8. The Return Of St. Cecilia
9. Stand And Fight
10. Florida Man
11. The Alchemist
12. Secret Road
13. There’s A Crime
14. Fight
Line-up:
Eric Bloom
Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser
Richie Castellano
Danny Miranda
Jules Radino
