The Symbol Remains

On their first album in nearly 20 years, classic rock fabulons Blue Öyster Cult deliver a collection of songs that recalls the melodic sci-fi wizardry of their 1970s/early-’80s zenith. The Symbol Remains is a nod to the band’s iconic hook-and-cross logo, and sees legendary BÖC vocalist/guitarists Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom leading a band comprising newer adherents Richie Castellano (keyboards, guitar), Danny Miranda (bass) and Jules Radino (drums). “Maybe we didn’t have that much to say for 19 years,” Bloom tells Apple Music. “And now we do. It just took us a while to get these juices flowing again.” After recording all the basic tracks pre-pandemic, BÖC were forced to complete The Symbol Remains online. “When COVID hit, we realised we were going to have to start recording from home,” Bloom says. “Richie has advanced degrees in audio engineering, so he was the pivot man. Buck and I did the vocals and some guitar playing at our individual homes using a Zoom-type technology, so I’d do the sessions looking at Richie’s face on my laptop.” Below, Bloom discusses some key tracks from their comeback project. That Was Me “We decided this was a good rocking track to open with. The lyric is by John Shirley, who wrote several of the lyrics on this record, and did on the last two records as well. Our long-time manager Sandy Pearlman put us together with him 20-odd years ago and thought he would be a great source of lyrical content, and he has been. John has his own band and is an author of cyberpunk novels and all kinds of things. If I feel like it's time to write something, I look in the John Shirley folder and see if I can get inspired. We wrote most of the music a couple of years ago and then I came up with the idea for that reggae-style bridge.” Tainted Blood “I wrote this one with Richie's assistance. He’s been in the band about 14 years, but this is his first time making a record with us. Sometime last summer, we got on a plane and I had this concept in my head of vamp