As if our cup hadn't already run over with their feverish new album "ONoffON", here's another shot of vital vitriol from legendary Boston post-punkers MISSION OF BURMA to celebrate their ongoing return.
Main track "Dirt" is one of the new album's high points and an instant Burma classic to boot. Cranked into life by a fervent Roger Miller riff, its' insistent Stooges-tussle-with-REM-circa-"Life's Rich Pageant" glee flows over a rough'n'tumble of a backbeat from Peter Prescott and a deceptively sweet vocal from bassist Clint Conley before shifting up to a dangerous, anthemic fifth gear. "And it hurts...the salt in the wound," notes Conley at one point. Yeah, but with Burma the sting's the thing. Terrific.
But that's not all. "Four Hands" continues in a riffmungous vein with Burma's Dead Kennedys-style versh of The Dils' "Class War" and Prescott taking over barking duties. It's all-too-brief, sliver-sized fun, and will surely incite moshpit mania anywhere and everywhere, but ain't as cool as the radical overhaul meted out to recent album highlight "Wounded World" which is on the receiving end of a bombed-out 'Dub mix' involving flanged beats, funereal strings and a kids' choir that makes mincemeat of the one Pink Floyd used to scare us all. "If you laugh at my jokes, you will pay for it" intone the wraith-like little horrors and your reviewer makes a sharp exit to change his underwear. Blimey.
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The "Four Hands" EP, then, ensures the exhilaration of Burma's mighty comeback album "ONoffON" is here to stay. After years of desperately hoping Messrs.Miller, Conley and Prescott might finally get back together, it's some boon. Who says fantasy always outstrips reality?
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