THE MISSION GOD IS A BULLET ALBUM SPV, PLAYGROUND RELEASE: APRIL 27, 2007 REVIEW: APRIL 19, 2006

I would not say that The Mission sound sleepy on their umpteenth album and in their 21st year. Neither does "God Is a Bullet" present a band past their prime. It is the times that have changed, and the rock sound of The Mission is not of the timeless kind. Aided by his band as well as members of All About Eve amongst others, Wayne Hussey delivers his kind of melodic and melodramatic music in much the way he always has. A way that sometimes, especially in the ballads, has a bit too much in common with mainstream romantic rock anthems for me to be entirely comfortable with it.

Being an album that tackles a lot of serious themes lyrically, "God Is a Bullet" would benefit from some darkness and rough edges musically as well. The polished surface is eminently distracting in this respect. Whatever dark and sexual undercurrents are present on the catchy single track "Keep It in the Family", they are lost to me in the pleasant soft rock setting. All the same, there are fast and vital goth tracks here, like "Hdshrinkerea", and drama a plenty for all those who lost their hearts to The Mission back when I would just frown at them in territorial loyalty to a certain other band.

MATTIAS HUSS