Aura is The Mission's best work in years. Disciples of The Mish who adored "God's Own Medicine" and "Children" will be relieved that The Mission are back with more love in their hearts than ever.
Aura is a celebration of love, lust and faith. Those of us who are still hypnotized by Hussey's pure command of the perfect love song (Butterfly on a Wheel, Bird of Passage, and Tower of Strength) should brace yourselves for the ultimate Mission love song that's come out in years: Dragonfly. I dare you not to break out in shivers when Wayne sings "Love will always heal and purify/ so open up your wings and soar as the dragonfly."
And if you thought "Friday I'm in Love" by The Cure was the happiest song ever written about the rush of love, well, get ready to be so giddy you pogo around the house with love and delight with The Mission's masterpiece "Happy."
Raunch and sex are also themes with songs like "Evangeline" ("bow down on your hands and knees and take the pain you deserve and I will release her Evangeline Evangeline kiss the spike of her Louis XV"), but that's nothing compared to the raw lust Hussey unleashes with "(Slave to) Lust" (First I'm gonna fuck you and then we'll make love baby it's been too damn long I'll conquer every orifice scream at the heavens above where have all the angels gone?". It's obvious to me that the Mission put everything they had into this album, and I hope you all check it out.
My only complaint to Wayne as the producer of the album was that he should have used more female backup for vocals in "Evangeline", "Slave to Lust" and "Mesmerized." Don't get me wrong, Wayne's still got the shiver in his voice that'll make you ache, but when you think of the heights he and Julianne from Queen Eve were capable in Severina and Dance on Glass from "God's Own Medicine" and Black Mountain Mist from "Children" or the tenderness he and Susie Kug achieved together with Bird of Passage, you'll know that these songs in Aura -- as great as they are -- could have been sacred with the grace of a woman singing beside Mr. Hussey.
Gothaholic review: 5 out of 5 with absolute admiration for a band that's inspired me more than they will ever know.
For more information, check out: http://www.themissionuk.com/