30 Albums That Built Heavy Metal

Very nice. However, in terms of "metal" records, I'd rank "Blue Oyster Cult", "T & M", or "Secret Treaties" ahead of "Agents". Especially "T & M". But nice to see recognition for the band.

Agree, it's like they included BOC just because. 

You often see these sort of lists on the interweb, and it'll usually be Tyranny that makes the cut, and I think rightfully so, in that sort of context - that first album was probably too "transitional" in style to get a look in on such a list...

Dunno why, but people seem to feel more comfortable if they can classify music into certain genres and types, though, and "Heavy Metal" as a term is often applied to define that album - other times you see it deemed to be "proto metal"... I like your description though - Tyranny certainly seems like it's a crystallised distillation of all those things that Columbia/Krugman et al was reportedly expecting of them when they signed the band... it's definitely what I would call "focussed"...

I think therefore that, because Tyranny would have been the easy answer to put on that list, as it has been on a number of previous ones, the compilers just thought they'd show that they were different, and put an unexpected - even inappropriate - example on there, maybe just to stimulate debate and discussion around their list...? If so, mission accomplished... :-)

But for me, I just get lost when it comes to applying all the various standard labels to music - personally, I've never been able to pin BOC down to any one particular label - they just had so many different things going on: different styles, different singers and writers etc - and I suppose their diversity of output may have been a limiting factor in their overall level of recognition and success down the years...?

To some people, BOC, overall, might have been seen as lacking focus because whatever box you tried to put them in, the lid would fly off and they'd just burst out... I mean, just run your eye down the tracks on AOF - what with Debbie Denise rubbing shoulders with Vampire Tattoos, True Confessions of Sinful Love and Don't Fear the Tenderloin - tell me how on earth would you classify that record...?  Whatever potential answers you might come up with, I'd bet "Heavy Metal" wouldn't figure among them...

and now, the Gorilla in the room question.
Buck, is it possible that the band tell the fans what the title will be, the tracklist, before the fans discover it in the news ?

You know, we'd REALLY LIKE to know all that and to have sound snipets and other things...

On that note Gerard, from listening to Planet Rock anyway, Skynard and Sammy Hager are putting new stuff out to ease the boredom of the current lock downs.....

Lips In The Hills ??