MOG Editorial Review

Armed with Roger Miller’s complex guitar work, shifting rhythms that recall the likes of Gang of Four, and bass lines reminiscent of a more furious Joy Division, Mission of Burma charged out of the Boston post-punk scene with an eruption of distortion and feedback. “Einstein’s Day” and “New Nails” seem to predate the noise layers Sonic Youth, while “The Ballad of Johnny Burma” and “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate” highlight Mission of Burma’s frenetic exuberance. Released in 1982, Vs. is their only full-length album under their initial lineup, and it remains a classic, and it marks the reason music geeks were so excited about the group's surprisingly successful reunion over the past decade.