Blue Öyster Cult were a bunch of New York smartasses and pastiche artists who somehow convinced the youth of Seventies America, through well-chosen singles, that they were an ass-whoopin’ hard rock band. The elements of their style were seemingly incongruous: high, clean, almost folk-rock harmonies (with a different member singing lead on virtually every song); screaming guitar solos; prominent but non-prog keyboards; and simple rock drumming that almost swung at times. When put together on their eerily melodic hard rock songs and their oddly ’50s-indebted ballads, though, it all worked really well. This, their fourth studio album, granted them immortality via the single “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper,” which is playing on a radio station somewhere right now. “E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)” and “Sinful Love” and “Morning Final” are each weird and dark in different ways, all compelling, and don’t miss Patti Smith’s cameo on “The Revenge Of Vera Gemini.”