OnOffOn

The band have lost little of their power and ambition, and still seek to confound their audience. The title-less "Track 9" (perhaps jokingly referring to MOB's age by representing the mid-way turning-over of an LP) is 14 seconds of silence, while "Prepared" is a melancholy, string-laden romance, and "Nicotine Bomb" a weirdly cheerful ditty. However, much of the rest is jerky, angular rock, squalls of discordant noise and angry, politicised chants, all recalling Gang Of Four. Same as it ever was. Mission of Burma, it seems, are destined to remain one of the underground's best-respected cults. --Dominic Wills