It’s really hard to define what style of music they play. I mean, I say electro-rock but that doesn’t really define them enough. I don’t really have a label for their music. It’s like someone asked them “what style of music do you want to play” and they replied “all of them”. As they run the gambit of so many styles and genres into one unique sound. They seem to mix elements of alternative rock, drum-n-bass, hip hop, funk, punk rock and R'n'B. As well as a multitude of other styles depending on the song. One minute they can open a mosh pit the next they turn the venue into a rave. With all that being said, do you want to know the weird thing? It works! Like really, really works. This genre-hopping gives Man With A Mission so much creative freedom, however, they are smart about how they utilise this. They could just make random sounds, you know, go full deconstruction of music experimental. They don’t do that, they make coherent catchy songs that live rent-free in your head long after the song is over.
Who are Man With A Mission though? The band consist of 5 members. Out of respect for the band, I will refer to them by their stage names Tokyo Tanaka on vocals, Jean-Ken Johnny on guitar, vocals and performs the rap vocals in the band, Kamikaze Boy plays the bass guitar and sings backing vocals, DJ Santa Monica is the DJ who adds the sampling layers and electronic elements and finally, Spear Rib smashes aways on drums. They wear custom wolf masks live in concert and in their music videos. Forming in 2010 they quickly found a fanbase in Japan and in the USA. I think the reason most of you might have heard of them before is probably that you watched a little-known anime, Log Horizon to which they performed the opening theme song “Database”. Or maybe you watched The Seven Deadly Sins where the band played the theme song “Seven Deadly Sins”. Or maybe you know the show My Hero Academia where they played the song “Merry Go Round”. My point is that Japan looks after their own and since Japanese culture has grown in popularity over the last decade. The band has grown their market to a global audience.
To date, they have released seven full-length albums and ten EPs. So there is a lot of content to dive into when it comes to this band. The most recent of these releases is the two-part Break and Cross the Walls. Part 1, was released in 2021 and Part 2 was released this year in 2022. In all honesty, these two albums are actually a perfect place to dive into their back catalogue. The songs on these albums are some of the best produced and well-written music of their career so far. The albums really show off their weird genre-mixing whilst still being coherent and catchy enough to draw in that mainstream audience. If you listen to any albums this year, I would definitely urge you to listen to Break and Cross the Walls Pt 1 & 2.
I think what drew me to the band personally was their weird presence and their willingness to take so many risks with their style. They just seem to be having so much fun. Even in their covers of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Lithium” they inject their own style and personality. Yes, they covered two of Nirvana’s biggest tunes and I genuinely prefer their versions over the originals. I don’t know if that says more about the songs or about my taste in music. That aside, their music speaks to me in a way that not many other bands do. One thing I can always bank on is that no Man With A Mission album will be the same as the previous or the next. Their live performances are a lot of fun as they bring that intense charisma to the stage and deliver in full force.
If you have been sleeping on this band I hope this blog serves as a wake-up call. Sometimes we need to broaden our horizons. Sometimes we need to experience something so weirdly bizarre and creative to realise that music is just true creative freedom.
CHECK OUT MAN WITH A MISSION
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