MAN WITH A MISSION brought their fusion of rap rock and electronic sounds [imagine Linkin Park] and grunge-rock darkness [think Nirvana] to London, England this week.
We saw them at the fabulous O2 Academy Islington.
The wolf-headed life-forms are on their first headline tour of Europe.
The band were knockout-good at Download, so we were über-excited to see the carnivorans perform a full-show… They are now based in Shibuya, Japan but, according their wry mythology, the super-creatures were found under-the-ice in Antarctica.
The band are, perhaps, most famous for their “Database” theme with its frantically jangled riffs and head-banging urge.
The song is the trademark for the anime adaptation of the novel series “Log Horizon” which is about a bunch of characters trapped inside a massive computer game.
Memory loss is a major theme in this anime/manga collaboration and seems to be a major theme for the band too. When asked how they came to be in Japan, via some time-travelling and enemy-crushing mythology — they couldn’t really explain it!
The upper room at the O2 Academy Islington has been busier, it’s fair to say.
But, on the flip-side, this is a Monday evening… a school night.
The support band from Brighton RORY INDIANA were really rather good. Their non-aggressive and melodically superior alt-rock warm-up helped sway and thrill the fans before the main act.
The keen crowd, comprising mostly of East Asian female friends were thrilled and animated when the superhuman beasts bounded onto the London stage.
The twisting, spiralling, cavorting escapade of “Evils Fall” seems peppered by citrus guitars and presents a perfect combination of clean-voiced harmony with hesitant rap. This is gloriously evocative.
“Out of Control” is another major number for the band. This is the one they performed with Zebrahead when they were on tour. It is a rapidly drumming, thrumming ‘n’ speeding fury. No wonder its associated with Mad Max. The “Hey” chorus is splendid and not a little reminiscent of the English power-metal purveyors DragonForce.
“Raise your Flag” is the feel-good anthem of the moment from these glory-song purveyors. The masculine voice [most of the numbers are performed in ‘human English’ ] is tense yet rises angelically above the cinematic quality of the layers-upon-layers of instrumentation. This is pure class.
Words: @neilmach 2016 ©
Main image from Artist Representative
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