On the 2012 album "For My Parents," instrumental rock band Mono went big. Recorded with the 25-piece Wordless Music Orchestra, the album reflected a band that had finally completed a musical journey that it started more than 15 years ago performing grandiose, symphonic instrumental rock.

But while touring in support of the album in the United States, guitarist and composer Takaakira "Taka" Goto says he felt a strange disconnect with the material.

"It seemed like we weren't rocking hard enough and that was a big dilemma," he says. "So I decided that on the next record we would recapture our noisy guitar sound, something that would grab American listeners."