The Sound The Speed The Light

When these post-punk veterans open an album with a song called “1,2,3, Partyy!”, it’s safe to assume they’re not in a celebratory mood—and sure enough, this window-smashing rocker is actually a sarcastic treatise on social conformity. It’s a fittingly frantic introduction for an album that finds Mission of Burma as bruising and biting as ever: “SSL 83” is a hit of psychedelic prog spun out to disorienting extremes, while even meditative turns like “Forget Yourself” get ravaged by the band’s wrecking-ball rhythm section.