After the amazing sophomore effort of Tyranny and Mutation, Blue Oyster Cult follows up with yet another powerfully charged and amazing classic offering in Secret Treaties, that rivals Tyranny and Mutation as one of THE best Cult albums ever! At this point, the band were poised to be on the verge of great success and every song on this release is solid, captivating and unbelievably consistent with a central theme running through its grooves.

Donald Roeser(Buck Dharma) is established as a guitar god on this release and one of his peaks as a guitarist is displayed on Astronomy; in fact, the song in itself is an institution and a testament to the power that the group displays. Other amazing tracks on offer here are Dominance and Submission, Harvester of Eyes, ME 262, Flaming Telepaths and the Subhuman. With the lyrical help of Richard Meltzer, Patti Smith and svengali, Sandy Pearlman, Secret Treaties becomes something of equal value in performance art and intellectual stimuli. This is where BOC became known as the "thinking man's rock band" with lyrical themes that have an underlying mystique in nature, equating subjective topics as broad as war, deception, lust, self-indulgence and pride, for example. 

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Career of Evil opens up the record with lyrics penned by Patti Smith, telling a tale of male dominance. The Subhuman provokes images of a surreal nature in which the subject at hand is of an individual whose mortality is in question through a lyrical maze of hints and clues implying himself as almost god-like or within the confines of martyrdom. The great thing about this album and the other two prior releases is that it reveals a 70's rock band could have elements of marrying rock and roll and fantastical lyrical appeal without using typical themes such as struggles of good and evil, god and devil or "Tolken-esque" themes as its basis. In other words, they create a landscape that is all their own and it makes one interpret what is being drawn onto their "Blank Canvas" according to the listener.

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Although, from Agents of Fortune on, the band would become satiated and infatuated with radio and commercial appeal, which I felt really tarnished the image that they had built for themselves formerly, the band would continue to draw from these 3 records as a ways of keeping continuity within their own style, but also attempting to add other elements, with often mixed results. "Treaties" remains the last classic Cult album through and through, and is not a release that should be overlooked by any means. It is absolutely imperative for a newbie to the band to have this installment within the BOC discography. And for the faithful, you already know the secret...

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Rating Grade- A+