Masque by Mission U.K.

Masque, the fourth studio album from the Mission (billed as Mission U.K. in the States), came out in June 1992 on Mercury's Vertigo imprint with Mark Saunders producing. Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams, the Sisters of Mercy refugees who started the band, were still at its core, with Mick Brown on drums and Rik Carter and Mark Gemini Thwaite coming in on guitar that year.

It's the sound of a goth band stepping off its own path. Hussey brought in outside hands, the Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt, the Waterboys' Anthony Thistlethwaite and Martin Allcock among them, and the swooning gloom gives ground to brighter alternative rock textures. Not everyone followed: AllMusic grumbled that it sounded less like the Mission than a band hunting for a direction, while PopMatters later stuck up for it. It stalled at 23 in the UK, and the band wouldn't see the top 40 again until Another Fall from Grace in 2016. "Never Again" is the track that reached the countdowns.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.