Rodrigo y Gabriela’s “Monster” Is a Rare Music-Manga Collaboration With Real Weight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wolzo63vons

When musicians announce that a new song is “cinematic,” the word can feel empty. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s “Monster” earns the description in a far more concrete way. The track is inspired by Naoki Urasawa’s manga Monster, and its video was created by Urasawa himself. That makes the single feel like a genuine conversation between sound and image.

The release introduces OurHome, Rodrigo y Gabriela’s forthcoming album, due September 18 via ATO Records. Recorded in Japan at NK Sound Tokyo and self-produced by the duo, the album arrives after a period of creative frustration and renewal. The first single makes clear that the record will draw from a wide field of references, including manga, philosophy, migration, mythology, and personal transformation.

Urasawa’s role is the piece of news that will reach far beyond guitar circles. He is a towering figure in manga, with Monster, 20th Century Boys, Pluto, and Master Keaton among his best-known works. His books have sold over 140 million copies worldwide, and his narrative style has become associated with slow tension, emotional complexity, and philosophical unease.

Those qualities are present in Rodrigo y Gabriela’s “Monster.” The track does not rely on lyrics to establish its world. Instead, the duo use their guitars to build pressure. The rhythm is urgent, the melodic language feels unsettled, and the arrangement moves with the controlled intensity of a story that has not yet revealed its full danger.

The collaboration also has a charmingly unlikely origin. Urasawa had watched Rodrigo y Gabriela’s live videos and became a fan, collecting their records over time. The duo wrote “Monster” without knowing that admiration was mutual. Once Urasawa learned that the song was inspired by his manga, he connected with the band in Tokyo and agreed to create the video.

That origin matters because it prevents the collaboration from feeling like a marketing stunt. There is a real exchange here: Rodrigo y Gabriela responding to Urasawa’s art, then Urasawa responding to Rodrigo y Gabriela’s response. The result is a loop of influence that feels personal on both sides.

OurHome itself appears to follow a similar pattern of return and response. Quintero has described Japan as a place that helped the duo reconnect with beauty, meaning, and inwardness. After struggling to find direction, they began writing again after the death of their studio cat, Pelusa, a moment that seems to have stripped the process back to feeling rather than strategy.

Photo credit: Enrique Levya

The album includes an ambitious set of collaborators: former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman, Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi, cellist Hiyori Okuda, and guitarist-composer Yukihiro Atsumi. Dave Sardy mixed the record, and Stephen Marcussen mastered it. On paper, that is a wide sonic map. In practice, “Monster” suggests that the album’s center remains the physical chemistry between Rodrigo and Gabriela.

The title also speaks to the album’s emotional direction. OurHome came from a sign the duo saw on a public housing tower in Melbourne, and Sánchez’s photo of that building became the cover. Quintero has framed the phrase as a reminder that belonging has to be built internally, especially when the outside world feels unstable.

Rodrigo y Gabriela will support the album with a fall North American headline tour that includes Austin City Limits, The Anthem, Bowery Ballroom, The Castro Theatre, The Moore Theatre, and many additional stops. A long Ireland, U.K., and European tour follows in spring 2027.

“Monster” is a strong opening move because it treats its inspiration seriously. Urasawa fans have a clear reason to pay attention, and Rodrigo y Gabriela fans get a track that sharpens the duo’s darker instincts. It is a release with a story behind it, but the story does not overshadow the music.