Children

Unable to put up with the monomaniacal Andrew Eldritch any longer, Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams exited Sisters of Mercy and, denied the use of the Sisterhood name through a dick move by Eldritch, founded their own Mission. For their second Gothic go-round, they hired John Paul Jones to produce, establishing the difference between their classic rock aspirations and Eldritch’s operatic ambitions (as evidenced by his hiring of Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman). While they go big on “Beyond the Pale” and “Tower of Strength,” their bombast would feel more at home at Wembley Arena than the West End. It’s no Floodland, but Children takes Hussey and Adams’s vision widescreen in its most complete form.