Japanese Rock superstars Man With a Mission are back with their latest genre-blending album entitled Break and Cross The Walls II. After their formation back in 2010, the band quickly rose in popularity. The album has already had an incredible level of success with tracks from the release being used in an incredibly wide range of media, from the anime Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Special Edition, to the X Games Chiba 2022.
Opening the album is Tonight Tonight, an instantly infectious upbeat track that just screams pure unadulterated fun. Great vocals and instrumentals combine to create an energetic opening that fades into a more sombre, emotional sound in track two More Than Words that places a focus on the lyrical delivery and gentle guitar work before slowly building to an incredibly upbeat yet reminiscent crescendo of emotion thanks to the great musicianship.
Track three, All You Need, blends heavy rock riffs with fun electronic elements alongside a more Rap styled vocal delivery that creates this irresistibly entertaining adventure into genre-blending that you struggle to find outside of Japan. Moving forward through the album, the next song I want to talk about is Perfect Clarity, a beautiful vocal performance opens the song as listeners are treated to one of the best Arena Rock tracks I’ve had the pleasure of hearing in a pretty long time.
The final track I want to discuss is Blaze, an adventure into Metal while keeping elements of everything before it. The way MWAM have managed to blend intense electronic instrumentals with chuggy riffs is just mind-blowing due to how perfectly they complement each other.
Thematically, the blend of instruments is perfect for this album due to Break and Cross The Walls II is based on the idea of conflict switching into unity and it’s great to have such an expertly performed and written example of this very idea within the genre-blending found across every track of this release. It’s genuinely no surprise why Man With a Mission is one of the hottest acts in Japan right now. Give this album a listen and just have some fun.
Review: Dan Stapleton
Break and Cross the Walls II is out May 25th via JPU Records.
Break and Cross the Walls II Track Listing
Disc 1 / CD
01. Tonight, Tonight
02. More Than Words
03. All You Need
04. blue soul
05. Left Alive
06. Perfect Clarity
07. Between fiction and friction Ⅱ _
08. Blaze
09. Rock Kingdom feat. 布袋寅泰 _(Tomoyasu Hotei)
10. Rain
11. The Soldiers From The Start
12. The Victors
13. Dark Crow -Break and Cross the Walls Ver.-
14. 小さきものたち _-Acoustic Ver.- (Chisakimonotachi)
Limited edition streaming album
MAN WITH A MISSION ACOUSTIC LIVE at Miracle Ipponmatsu Hall, Rikuzentakata City, Iwate
01. whatever you had said was everything
02. 2045
03. yoake
04. colours
05. Memories
06. 小さきものたち _(Chisakimonotachi)