The Whigs waste no time opening the album with the sudden and jarringly overdriven guitar of “Like a Vibration,” which does an excellent job of hooking the listener straight into the album. From the thrashy opening Mission Control continues with the peppy and catchy “Production City.” The two opening tracks together make for an impressive beginning to the album, which rips its way through a strange mixture of punk, country, and indie-rock.
After the startling beginning the band moves to a little bit slower material, and showcase their countryside. “Sleep Sunshine” beautifully melds a classic country slide guitar with the heavily distorted guitar that opened the album, all brought together by a stellar drum part. The country influences continue through the middle of the album and ends abruptly, as abrupt seems to be the album’s theme, and picks up with another tenacious song, “Already Young.” The last song, and title track, exemplifies the jumpy sound of The Whigs, using a series of stops and starts throughout the track, but unfortunately builds to a climax that is never delivered.
The somewhat disappointing ending by no means outweighs the rest of the album. Featuring a barrage of fierce guitars, a solid and fast rhythm, and all around catchy song writing,
Mission Control earns itself a respectable 3.5 of 5 stars. Although the album does not revolutionize its genre by any means, it does feature a mean guitar, good vocals, tight drumming parts, and some solid song writing, making it an all around enjoyable album.
