Mission of Burma: The Obliterati : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

There's no shortage of post-punk reunions these days -- in fact, some of us out here are getting pretty damn sick of waiting for those November Group and Comsat Angels reunions. But Mission of Burma are different. The Boston avant-punk pioneers made a great comeback album with 2004's OnOffOn, but The Obliterati just sounds like the new Burma album. Roger Miller's multilayered guitar attack buzzes and hisses as fiercely as any other band out there. Miller, Clint Conley, Peter Prescott and new guy Bob Weston get melodic even in abrasive raves like "Spider's Web" and "2wice." "Donna Sumeria" sounds like a joke title, but it's a sincere disco tribute from one Boston music legend to another, complete with Shaft piano rumbles. Some people think it's in poor taste for Burma to end the album with "Nancy Reagan's Head." But one of the many, many reasons to love Burma is that they still remember why they hate Nancy Reagan.