The Blue Oyster Cult have long touted themselves as "the thinking man's heavy-metal band". On Curse of the Hidden Mirror, their first album of the new millennium, BOC prove they're still smart enough to play to their strengths, wearing their 1970s classic-rock heritage like a badge of honour. Indeed, there's not a contemporary influence in sight, just the familiar riff and bass-heavy hard rock of their "Me Decade" prime, infused with an enviable--if not exactly Rhodes scholarly--economy of purpose and a deceptively easy-pop sensibility forged by the core members' (Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, Eric Bloom and Allen Lanier) three-decade alliance. Given the idiom and its expectations, the subject matter naturally tends toward 2-D nihilism ("I Just Like to Be Bad") and goth-apocalyptic lite ("The Old Gods Return", "One Step Ahead of the Devil"). The band (with help from cowriters Jerry Shirley of Humble Pie and band founder and rock critic R Meltzer) maintains a level of literacy that would at least do comic book fans proud. The Roeser-produced all-digital recording is crisp and showcases the band's familiar charms with understated clarity. --Jerry McCulley