Artist: Mission Of BurmaAlbum: The Sound The Speed The Light
Year: 2009
Grade: 4.5 pretzels
Not many bands can survive a nineteen-year hiatus and still sound as vibrant and powerful as they did in their prime. Yet, that’s exactly what Boston’s Mission Of Burma have done. In fact, with albums like their new The Sound The Speed The Light, they make a decent case for being in their prime right now. For years, their legend was built upon one EP and one, solitary album released in the 80s. Since they reformed in 2002, they’ve released three more albums, tripling their recorded output while still retaining their trademark, angular rock sound. They look like they’re here to stay.
In many ways, The Sound is Burma’s best album since 1983’s Vs.. While their other two reunion-era albums have been quite good, their more polished production seemed at odds with the band’s oblique songwriting and penchant for barely controlled noise. Mission Of Burma always threatened to be more art project than band, despite their furious rock roar. The Sound does an excellent job of reconciling these two important elements of the Burma sound, with jerking rockers like “Possession” balancing out the more introspective, artsy songs like “Forget Yourself”.
As usual, the show revolves around the dynamic songwriting team of guitarist Roger Miller and bassist Clint Conley. Miller tends to write the more abstract and angular material, while Conley has the best grasp on the band’s most anthemic material, like the lead single “1, 2, 3, Partyy!”, featuring the oh-so-catchy line "drink only when drunken to" (or is it, "drunken, too"...?). Carefully switching between these two styles gives The Sound a pleasing ebb and flow from beginning to end, featuring blistering rock peaks and soothing melodic valleys. Drummer Peter Prescott even contributes a handful of songs, making this a full team effort.
Mission Of Burma consistent excellence, despite being broken up for the better part of two decades, is really quite astonishing. A song like the ferocious “So Fuck It” would make plenty of sense coming from the 1983 version of Burma, but hearing Roger Miller write a song like it twenty years later boggles the mind. Burma really sound like they haven’t missed a single step since the 80s, returning to the world just as strong as when the left it. How many bands can be that lucky?
In many ways, The Sound is Burma’s best album since 1983’s Vs.. While their other two reunion-era albums have been quite good, their more polished production seemed at odds with the band’s oblique songwriting and penchant for barely controlled noise. Mission Of Burma always threatened to be more art project than band, despite their furious rock roar. The Sound does an excellent job of reconciling these two important elements of the Burma sound, with jerking rockers like “Possession” balancing out the more introspective, artsy songs like “Forget Yourself”.
As usual, the show revolves around the dynamic songwriting team of guitarist Roger Miller and bassist Clint Conley. Miller tends to write the more abstract and angular material, while Conley has the best grasp on the band’s most anthemic material, like the lead single “1, 2, 3, Partyy!”, featuring the oh-so-catchy line "drink only when drunken to" (or is it, "drunken, too"...?). Carefully switching between these two styles gives The Sound a pleasing ebb and flow from beginning to end, featuring blistering rock peaks and soothing melodic valleys. Drummer Peter Prescott even contributes a handful of songs, making this a full team effort.
Mission Of Burma consistent excellence, despite being broken up for the better part of two decades, is really quite astonishing. A song like the ferocious “So Fuck It” would make plenty of sense coming from the 1983 version of Burma, but hearing Roger Miller write a song like it twenty years later boggles the mind. Burma really sound like they haven’t missed a single step since the 80s, returning to the world just as strong as when the left it. How many bands can be that lucky?
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