After 22 long years who'd have thought that the long defunct Mission of Burma would grace the public with a brand new studio album' Not me, especially when you consider that the reason they broke up in the first place was because of Roger Miller's rapid hearing loss. But here it is, OnoffOn, the first new recording in over two decades and while listening to it, it's weird to think they haven't lost a step. Well not much of one anyway. The original lineup is back, except for tape loop and sound manipulator Martin Swope who is replaced by none other than Bob Weston of Shellac and fittingly enough Volcano Suns which Peter Prescott from Mission of Burma went on performing as after Mission of Burma's first demise. What's striking about OnoffOn is how amazing Roger Miller still sounds after all these years. His vocals have not wavered one bit, and his lyrics are as enraged as ever. "Wounded World" and especially "Falling" are two of the best songs here, and the latter features a very cool backup vocal from Tanya Donelly of great past bands like Throwing Muses, Belly and The Breeders respectively.

Where OnoffOn slips a bit are the contributions of Clinton Conley and Peter Prescott. Conley's voice seems to have lost some of its edge, and while some of the songs here are good, (especially "Prepared"), some of the other ones just don't live up to the greatness of the past. Prescott's songs however just suffer from feeling like throwaway tracks. None of the three songs that he contributes vocals to here feel even close to essential. While OnoffOn is a good album, it comes nowhere close to being in the realm of greatness that Signals Calls & Marches EP and especially the Vs. album have to offer up so many years ago. But in all actuality when it comes right down to it, I'm just damn grateful that a band as influential and inspiring as Mission of Burma would try to make another go at it. I hope that these guys actually stay around for a while this time on this go around.