Mission - In the garden of dark delights

Born from the ashes of the Sisters Of Mercy (from whom both bassist Craig Adams and singer Wayne Hussey come, the latter also having been in Dead Or Alive), the Mission represent the most decadent and melodramatic wing of dark-rock. Combining gloomy atmospheres, in the classic style of Siouxsie, Joy Division and Sisters of Mercy, with delicate melodies in the vein of the refined new wave of Echo And The Bunnymen and New Order, Hussey and co. managed for a while to truly resurrect the restless spirit of the golden years of dark music.

The Mission formed in 1986 as a quartet: Hussey and Adams were joined by Simon Hinkler (ex-Artery) and Mick Brown (ex-Red Lorry Yellow Lorry). The band placed itself within the "grebo" (neo-hippy) movement and immediately drew general attention with a handful of first-rate singles: the sumptuous "Garden Of Delight", embellished with a classical arrangement of violin, cello and piano, the mesmerizing "Stay With Me" and the poignant "Wasteland". These tracks, together with the "danses macabres" of "Sacrilege", "Dance On Glass" and "And The Dance Goes On", animate the excellent debut album God's Own Medicine (the "medicine" of the title is slang for morphine). What gives the Mission's music its character are pompous, baroque arrangements, dark and tense atmospheres, melodies with a decadent flavour, and Hussey's deep vocal tone, poised between the most theatrical Bowie and the most desperate Bono Vox. Thanks to the album's success, Hussey and co. toured the world, also performing "obscure" covers of rock classics by Patti Smith, Neil Young and the Beatles.

The inspiration, however, starts to run dry on Children (1988): too many tracks sound like faded copies of those on the previous record, even if "Beyond The Pale" and "Tower Of Strength" still manage the miracle of reviving Siouxsie's witchy spirit from the synth-pop era.

Softer and more delicate, Carved In Sand manages to showcase classy romantic ballads such as "Amelia", "Butterfly On A Wheel" and "Into The Blue", alongside the rediscovered grit of "Deliverance". With Masque, on the other hand, the Mission fall back on a bland, monotonous dance-rock that only wakes up on the electrifying "Spider and the Fly". The following Neverland (1995), caught between formulaic grand guignol and baroque hardcore in the style of the most trivial Led Zeppelin ("Raising Cain", "Sway", "Daddy's Going To Heaven Now"), would at least serve to convince Hussey and co. that the inspiration of their early years had definitively faded.

For the Mission it seemed to be over, but after years of silence, broken only by the occasional sporadic reunion concert and the release of a couple of anthologies, Wayne Hussey and co. made a surprise return in 2001 with AurA, mixed by Dave Allen (Cure, Sisters of Mercy) and Steve Power (Robbie Williams). "We got back together just for a tour, and we enjoyed it," Hussey recalls. "It went so well that we made a record. We only had one song, the rest we built piece by piece, putting it all together. I have a studio in California, that's where I finished the work.

Sound-wise, the guitars were used much more than on the records we put out in the 90s". Meanwhile, some of their tracks were remixed by Youth of Killing Joke, while the dark scene has completely changed face: "It's become much more international," Hussey explains. "During the 80s it had become a fascinating phenomenon with a huge following, especially in Britain, and bands like us, or the Sisters and others, were reaching the top of the charts. Then, once that moment of notoriety passed, it went back to being underground. Now it's become very global — just last year we played in South Africa, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Greece... all over the world, really. The audience that comes to see our shows is mostly made up of goths, but I've always thought of the Mission as basically a traditional rock band."

The single “Evangeline” is taken from the album (the first for Mission in the last six years). But the impression, as with the latest Bauhaus release, is that this is less a resurrection than an ill-advised exhumation.

Mission's eleventh effort, Another Fall From Grace (2016), is once again steeped in gothic-rock.

The incipit is entrusted to the languid guitar of the title track, a dark-rock piece with an Eighties flavour, and given the premise, there's no reason to be surprised. The feeling of déjà vu — though perhaps it's more accurate to call it familiarity — continues on the following “Met-Amor-phosis”, which features guest vocals from Ville Valo of H.I.M. (the roster of “guests” is illustrious, as befits a heavyweight collaborator; also on board are Gary Numan and Martin Gore).

Mission's rock, tinged with darkness, has always had a keen ear for melody, and Romanticism remains its defining stylistic trait; the new record is no exception, and its twelve tracks represent well their elegant approach to dark music (“Can’t See The Ocean For The Rain”, the ballad “Never’s Longer Than Forever”, “Jade”).

A solid “genre record” from Wayne Hussey's band, joined on this occasion by illustrious guests such as Ville Valo, Gary Numan and Martin Gore.

Contributions by Lorenzo Pagani (“Another Fall From Grace”)

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