Man With A Mission - O2 Academy Islington, London (UK) - 4 July 2016

Formed in 2010, Man With A Mission is a Japanese quintet consisting of five 'mutant wolves', namely Tokyo Tanaka (vocals), Jean-Ken Johnny (guitars), Kamikaze Boy (bass), DJ Santa Monica and drummer Spear Rib. They play music that is a combination of genres such as Rock, Rap, Alternative Punk, Melodic Hard Rock and Metal and they sing in both Japanese and English. That's a lot of genres but they manage to combine it together very well and it actually works both on CD and in the live setting.

Man With a Mission has released four full length albums and six EPs to date. Songs like 'Seven Deadly Sins' and 'Raise Your Flag' which are off the band's latest release, 'The World's On Fire', which came out this year, sounded heavier live and the reaction of the crowd to these and other songs throughout the whole show could only be described as fan worship. The band in turn was amped up throughout and gave it their all in terms of energy and performance. Fan favourites played tonight included 'Database', 'Distance' and 'Get Off Of My Way' which all have amazing videos that you can check out on YouTube. A really cool cover of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was a nice addition to the set.

This was an intimate show for this band who are used to playing headline shows to 30,000 people back in their home country. You can't beat Slipknot in the heavy stakes and you can't out do Lordi in terms of horror so I guess Man With a Mission have found their own niche in the market by going for the 'cute' look which has made them household names in Japan. I personally think they have what it takes musically to take off on an international scale but only time will have the answer to that one.

Roland Oei