Metropolis Records
2001
Aura
About This Album
There is a happy land where the Mission never went off the boil, where the desperate maneuverings of Masque and Neverland never sent them spiraling away from what they did best, and where the upheavals and evils of the past ten years never once impacted the gorgeous gleam of post-Zep atmosphere and pre-Hollywood Tolkien-esque fantasy that was the hallmark of their best (first two) albums. It is a land that has been on regular display on-stage since the band's late-'90s reformation, but Aura, a U.K. release in 2001 that finally reached America 12 months later, was its first studio manifestation -- and what a joy it is. With the spirit of "Serpent's Kiss" playing around its intro guitars, and an anthemic quality that cannot be ignored, the opening "Evangeline" insists from the outset that the reborn Mission are not here to simply make up the numbers. True, its S&M theme isn't exactly the most inspired lyric Wayne Hussey has ever come up with (the title rhymes with "whiplash queen" -- ouch), but ignore the words and the music washes you clean of every year that's elapsed since the golden age of "Severina," "Wasteland," and "Garden of Delight.
Track List (try tracks 1,6 and 12)

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