Gojira - Magma (2016)

Gojira has always been a band that flirted on the margins of the accessible in heavy music, basing a lot of their songwriting upon a foundation of simplistic, eager chugging rhythms and clear nods to once fashionable niches like the dreaded 'nu metal'. What clearly separated was their ability to elevate this sort of riffing component to a realm more transcendent, poetic and majestic, breathing new life with a combination of great studio production that really let them feel out those chords and mutes; and of course the almost hymnal nature of Joe Duplantier's grating yet melodic vocal tone, which is almost like the offspring of Pink Floyd's hypnotic, drugged, and harmonic quality with Neurosis harshness. But I think Magma, the Frenchmen's sixth full-length, is an example how regurgitating very basic riff cycles can only take you so far, and the record suffers slightly for this.

Don't get me wrong, there is more than enough material here for a solid, I daresay even 'great' EP, and much of that arrives in the first four tracks. In particular, "Stranded" is one I'd toss on any mix tape, which does wonders with those chugging patterns as it offsets them with the spikes of higher pitched guitar and a rousing, uplifting, if predictable chorus. I even enjoyed the soothing, cleaner vocal harmonies that came in the bridge. "The Cell" also has its moments with those churning palm mute harmony patterns and the faint melodies they plaster over them, although even this track relies on an extremely primitive groove riff that I didn't feel could contribute much to its overall composure after maybe 3-4 repetitions. But honestly, there is a very consistent opening 15-16 minutes with a lot of subtlety alongside the jackhammering grooves, a few twists and surprises that help augment that banal 'heaviness' forced by a lot of the palm mute focus, very much in the style that they mastered in 2005 with From Mars to Sirius, or its superb successor The Way of All Flesh. Granted, there is no "Oroborus" of "Toxic Garbage Island" among these, but I'd say that the quality does hit the standard of L'Enfant sauvage.

Where it does NOT hit that standard is in the two vapid instrumental tunes, "Yellow Stone" and "Liberation", which have nothing on the excellent "Wild Healer" from the prior album. The first is an oozing, circular, bluesy Sabbath piece with a little bit of ambient accompaniment, which goes just nowhere for me, and the last was a traditional acoustic guitar piece with some percussion that is a pretty boring afterthought to all that came before it. Hell, "Liberation" seems like such a mistake that I thought someone had mixed up the production of the CD. Otherwise, there were some cuts like "Magma" itself, "Pray", or the bass-swerving chug onslaught of "Only Pain" which basically rips its 'surprise' riff off the much catchier "Stranded" that did little to nothing interesting. When Joe is shouting "just wanted to be good" in the middle of that last tune, I was forced to agree with him. "Low Lands" would have been a solid closer for my imaginative EP version of this album, since I like how he works the vocals throughout, and it's constant climbing feel, but even that is just not enough to save this from sub-greatness.

Sonically, I don't have an issue here, since it sounds as crisp, pulverizing and rich as the couple albums before it, but much as the production emboldens the parts of Magma that I do like, it also accents the parts that I don't. The lyrics are alright, but tunes like "Silvera" rely on a lot of nu metal, groove or hardcore cliche like lines and images that don't do as much for the imagination as even the very basest riffing they perform. So, ultimately, was this worth a four year wait? Half of it is a worthwhile followup to L'Enfant sauvage, but the other half seems like the ideas in the Gojira camp have run dry, and the ironic elegant primacy that fuels their songwriting has petered out to a more neutral plane in which their upward creative trajectory has halted. I'll still slap a passing grade on it, because I get enough emotional resonance out of its stronger pieces, but I can guarantee that I won't often feel a compulsion to listen through in its entirety, skipping those instrumentals entirely and giving or taking 2-3 other tunes.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (leave the moment alone)

http://www.gojira-music.com/

Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage (2012)

Easily one of my most anticipated releases this year, Gojira's fourth album comes at a point in which the French band's star couldn't possibly be rising along a steeper incline. Strong label support from the cold/hot Roadrunner, doubtlessly huge touring plans, a backlog which has only progressed in quality since the 2001 debut Terra Incognita, and an audience which seems to transcend any particular pigeonhole into which you might place it, they've got the chops and support to become one of the premiere 'groove' metal icons in the world. L'Enfant Sauvage is not likely to disappoint anyone with a strong connection to the past releases, and proves a pleasurable listen of some depth through numerous spins.

That's not to say it's a masterwork, or even that it surpasses From Mars to Sirius or The Way of All Flesh in quality, because for the first time in the band's chronology, I feel like we're faced with an album that does not progress from its predecessor in any blatant, meaningful way. The post-hardcore inflected rhythm guitar chugging, perky emotional tremolo or tapped melodies, expressive percussion and gruff vocals all return are by now all par for the course on a Gojira record, and the patterns proposed here do not carve themselves a new path through their sonic framework. If there's one exception, it might be the sheer atmosphere evinced through a tighter, more compacted space than The Ways of All Flesh. This is a shorter album, with only the opener "Explosia" eclipsing six minutes, and the Frenchmen manage to effectively exhibit mood and tone with no need for rampant technicality or undue complexity, while retaining the same modernist aesthetic in the riffs and lyrics which broke them out from the depths of the underground.

Where I enjoy this band the most is in their ability to communicate a hybrid of psychedelic and mechanical emotions through the hypnotic structure of the note progressions, and L'Enfant Sauvage has not let me down in this regard. The way the lush tapping repetition in instrumental "The Wild Healer" plays off the sludgier rhythm guitar, ringing ambiance and lightly distorted bass is so beautiful I wanted it to go on forever (it's not even 2 minutes long), while the denser chugging and harmonic sweeps of cuts like "Planned Obsolescence" build to an efficacious battering ram of headbanging payout. The vocal arrangements here are enormous and inspired, almost as if one were experiencing a robotic, post-metal Pink Floyd on "Liquid Fire"; and the use of cleaner guitars throughout the record ("Pain is a Master", etc) do not derail from its numbing convocations of wrenched violence and fragile melody.

Production and performance are two huge factors for Gojira, and the former is sleek and potent here which is truly key to the band's simplistic, palm-muted calculations. Without the strong mix, recorded in New York and assisted by Josh Wilbur (who has also worked with the popular Lamb of God), such a tactic might not yield such a penetration in the listener's skull. Everything is as clear as day, yet as heavy as nightfall. Mario Duplantier's beats are never showy or overly indulgent, but surprisingly organic considering just how damn mechanical the overall writing can often seem. As usual, I love Joe's vocals for their unique timbre, whether jarring and hoarse or ascending to some wistful, fulfilling harmony. Always, he sounds like an internal monolog being cyphered through the listener, one of great pain and joy and volume.

If anything holds L'Enfant Sauvage back, it's that the actual structures of the riffs here just don't seem all that novel or wholly consistent in their compulsion. Individually, the very stripped down note sequences don't hold a lot of replay value, so without the vocals, drumming and full, ooze of the bass, they might seem a bit undercooked. The band lacks the benefit of surprise here, and there are few songs quite at the level of an "Oroborus" or "Ocean Planet" in breadth of power. But that said, I've still been enjoying the heck out of this thing, despite its failure to set any new bars. It's a case where the phrase 'more of the same' doesn't equate with a negative resonance, and Gojira's balance of crushing and subtlety still shakes my teeth.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10] (the sky is all over me)

http://www.gojira-music.com/

Gojira - From Mars to Sirius (2005)

For their third act, the French mod metal squad Gojira aspired to make a mountain out of a molehill. From Mars to Sirius goes beyond aspiration to accomplishment, quashing their previous efforts like a landslide, so hard that rubble continues to pour onto The Link's face long past the original, explosive tremors. This is a dense and effective offering which transformed a band that was a mere curiosity into a massive, touring force and one that many journalists and hipsters acclaim to be 'the future of metal'. We've heard this expression before and it almost always peters out in the end, but one cannot deny the increasing success experienced by this band.

And it's just impossible to deny. By the end of the first track, "Ocean Planet", the band has already crushed all of their prior songwriting. Bold, accessible and yet dusted in flecks of industrial rust and grime, the track functions off an alternating discordant groove akin to something Voivod might have crafted on their Negatron album (in particular the breakdown at 2:00), but blocky, mechanical and uniquely graceful. It's like a chunk of factory gaining sentience and operating itself, yet adorned in the bands pseudo-universal 'life peace love Earth' sentimentality. "Backbone" constructs an appropriate chug which reminded me of the rhythm to Primus' "Toys Go Winding Down", albeit glazed in industrial rock and Joe Duplantier's carnal multi-faceted throating. The song experiences a beautiful shift towards sombering melodic death metal at its own 2:00 mark, immediately an album favorite. "From the Sky" continues this trend with a barrage of fundamental grooving death metal and chugging fortitude, both barrels rolling forward towards a beautiful climax. "Unicorn" is another of the band's frequent interludes, this one's shining harmonics and tranquil beat winning out over the namesake.

This flight into deceptive fantasy continues with "Where Dragons Dwell", a winding passage of bass floes and chugging excess at the end of its cavernous melodies. The ambient break is very cool, transforming into another huge bottom end riff, which leads the track through its final pacing before "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe" explodes like a galactic genesis, which a flattening groove which will have you either twitching and banging your head like a goddamn automaton or throwing your hat in about how horrible this band must be for its ability to create such a convincing, simplistic slaughter. "Flying Whales" features whale song samples and melancholic clean guitars that slowly propel into another stompfest, and you can almost close your eyes to imagine the travails of such a figurative beast as it navigates the phlogiston between worlds and realities. "In the Wilderness" follows with more desolate crunching barbarity, as if the 'wilderness' of the title were in fact a post-apocalyptic scene, retired metal hulls stretching the horizon as we celebrate the waste of our passing.

Trees so strong, that they never can fall
Four suns alight, in silver grey sky
Wild river flows, with rage alive
Lions of fire approach me

Such stark and baleful imagery translates entirely too well into the plodding, slugging murder fest of the bands rhythmic guts, ever rising forth from the primordial elixir with a strong melodic surge that balances them back to the more accessible, impatient ear. From here, the crawling cosmic blues of "World to Come", and the brief, distant, half-titled prog piece "From Mars", which feels like a bit of Floyd-ian paving across the band's crushing path, offering a respite before the melee that is "To Sirius", a sequence of colossal grooves against the black border of interspace. "Global Warming" returns the band to its love for the guitar tapped rhythm, a slight sliver of foreshadowing towards the album that would follow this. The track is lovely, even as it digresses into another of the bands lumbering juggernaut riffs, and a gentle end.

From Mars to Sirius is one of those albums with the transient ability to 'grow'. As easily accessed as it was upon release, I have found the years nothing but kind to its wiles, and I rank this now far higher than I ever would have in 2005. A beautiful, winged thing has emerged from its larval stage within the creative cortex of these four Frenchmen, and we are all the richer for its presence, trailing stardust and inspiration upon the potential found in the cauled corners of our beloved medium. Like the massive waves swelling across Tokyo Bay, Gojira has finally arrived.

Highlights: Both the liftoff and the landing.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.25/10] (in this dream awake)

http://www.gojira-music.com/

Gojira - The Link Alive (2004)

I will never for the life of me understand why a band with only two albums under its belt is releasing an official live recording, but I suppose if I looked back far enough into the past I might find some successful evidence that such an anomaly was possible. The Link Alive is the live audio recording which matches the previous year's DVD release, with the exact same track listing (only a 10 second difference on the opening instrumental track). Whether this is an earnest offering from the band or label I have no idea, but I do know that one is far better off spending his/her money on the DVD itself, which at least features videos and other material. This audio only version, The Link Alive, is a waste of time, and should have been included as a bonus to the DVD itself. But as it stands, it's only a very limited run release...for the truest of fans, so the band can be partially excused for its existence.

As far as the sound, well it sounds quite close to the band's first two studio albums, culling a fair amount of material from both. I doubt this is quite so hard, for though I love Mario's drumming, the music the band performs is extremely simplistic, and it would be a sad day if they could not pull it off as clean as possible in the live setting. The vocals are good and rough and loud here, but you can still make out all the thick bass and the ringing of the band's more pensive guitar riffing, circulating the chugging beast within. I can imagine that the mosh pits at a Gojira would be quite strange, I picture a bunch of strange Frenchmen in checkered pants and bunny costumes diving and decking one another to the violent jerking of the band's almost menstrual rhythms.

At any rate, this is a healthy cross-offering from the band's demos and earliest full-lengths. From Terra Incognita, you have "Clone", "Blow Me Away You (Niverse)", "Space Time", "Lizard Skin", "In the Forest", "Love", while The Link is represented with the title track, "Death of Me", "Connected", "Remembrance", "Indians", "Embrace the World", "Inward Movement", and the reconditioned demo track "Wisdom Comes." The one track I didn't recognize was the instrumental "Terra Incognita", but it's little more than a jammy set-up for "Indians" without much memorable to report.

The Link Alive is a vibrant enough recording that seems ample evidence of the band's ability to put on a tight performance, but I can't think of any reason I would track it down or choose any of these versions above their studio counterparts. Sure, the chugs are a little more pronounced, and you can hear a little less of the studio mechanism and a little crowd participation, but the songs I didn't care for before are no better in this setting and it's just another quickly forgotten exchange not worth the 75 minute investment when so much else vies for your attention.

Verdict: Fail [4.5/10]

http://www.gojira-music.com/

Gojira - The Link (2003)

Where the debut Terra Incognita might have struggled a little in terms of finding an identity, and understandably so, as half the album consisted of re-recorded demo material; The Link is a far more coherent expression of the French band's surreal, atmospheric grooving that falls somewhere between the realms of Neurosis, Prong, Tool, Voivod and Meshuggah without any clear re-iteration of the above. A spacious effort, hardly immediate, it continues to tread upon the mechanical nature of its predecessor, but lacks much of that album's sterility and confusion. Make no mistake, the sounds of The Link can grate upon the soul. Some of its lumbering, muted rhythms feel like an emptiness spread throughout the being, a tinge of paralysis that begins at the fingertips and scalp and then crawls through the capillaries into the organs of importance.

Yes, this is probably the 'coldest' of the band's full-lengths, but cold through the vistas it explores, where the only fractions of warmth must be earned. "The Link" is an early indicator that Mario Duplantier will be continuing to enthrall through his use of wood blocks and other unexpected percussion within the album's bouncing post-metal groove, like you were hearing some refined alternative to Sepultura's Roots, raised on paint thinner, with none of that album's shitty guitar grunting. Joe sticks to his better, tormented vocals, starting at the Roots Cavalera range (or Tommy Victor's sewer-scarred throat) and then howling off into a much more welcoming arena where they traipse like an aurora across the nightline. "Death of Me" see-saws like a pair of rusted golems, splattering itself in grimy death metal breaks and winding down like a mechanized toy that is slowly expending its battery juices in a final ballet. "Connected" is a sweet percussion piece, while "Remembrance" sears across a skillet of post-hardcore drone and bludgeoning old chug warfare.

"Torii" is a peaceful instrumental piece, like a tone poem of scintillating clean guitars and random sound effects that flows quite naturally into the vibrant downtrodden chug of "Indians". Sadly this is one of the most boring tracks on the album, and I have no idea why it was chosen for a single...once you've heard the first 30-60 seconds, there is little to anticipate, and even the mathematical groove bridge does little to light the blood afire. Far better is the factory-line melody of "Embrace the World" (I loved the feel of the bass backing it up), which surges into spasms of noisy grind and crunch. "Inward Movement" is slow, like carefully processing bowels that wish to neatly package their contents for excretion, with a subtle architecture of flagellant noise and dense groove seeking to undulate the intestinal process.

The land beyond is deep within
I took the path & I cannot go back
I've just connected myself with I
but I don't me that well as you see

Trippy enough lyrics, though again, a rather boring song. "Over the Flows" is the weird, somewhat out of place song to supplant "Satan is a Lawyer" from the debut, but it's also quite a bit more mesmerizing, with sparse, cyclic moments of nauseous momentum and vocals that hiss off into a field of distortion. "Wisdom Comes" arrives like a brick through a window, and might be the worst song on this album, being the one thing here reprinted from the demo days. As forgettable as much of the songs squealing, dull death metal qualities are, there is the one bristling riff within at :40 which develops nicely before it transforms into awful chug grooving that you'd expect from any neighborhood metalcore band. The finale is an instrumental, experimental pattern of breathing guitar work ruptured through turbulent grooves, called simply "Dawn", and while fascinating in spots, it doesn't provide for many of the album's better moments.

The Link is a step up the ladder for a band on their rise to the stars, but it's a step suffused with some minor pitfalls which make for inconsistent listening. Most of the tracks are worthwhile, and the overall sound is fused together far more than the debut, but those few that are not land the album at a level just above average. Really, with the imminent existence of From Mars to Sirius and The Way of All Flesh, this is not something you'd ever reach towards for a fix of Gojira. But it's their first successful recording, speaking reams of potential if not engraving itself deep enough into your cortex for immediate reflection.

Highlights: Death of Me, Connected, Embrace the World, Torii

Verdict: Win [7/10] (I want to build some fire)

http://www.gojira-music.com/

Gojira - Terra Incognita (2000)

With its rather unassuming cover art (I like to refer to it as 'The Nose'...look closely), the debut of French Gojira might give the impression that it was any of a million typical alt rock or alt metal albums released by countless forgettable bands in the 90s. But the music contained within Terra Incognita, 14 tracks, half of which are culled from the band's Saturate and Wisdom Comes demos (1999-2000), is often not a great distance from their more recent material ala The Way of All Flesh. Combining accessible, mechanical grooves into the field of more intense death metal is not a trait often welcomed within the genre, and to be sure, Gojira have their lovers and haters like any other band that sticks their neck out and begs to be just a little different.

Terra Incognita might be the band's first and worst effort, but that's saying a lot for the French band. Even on this formative release, which occasionally lacks the distinctness of its younger siblings, there are still a few good songs and ideas. With a sound culled from influences like Meshuggah, Sepultura, Carcass, Kong, Machine Head, and perhaps a little Prong, the band has a lot of modern, arguably nu-metal mosh to them that can often distract from their heightened sense of riffing, but occasionally even these LCD grooves can stun the listener straight into submission with their effortless precision. Although the band's musical skills were already well honed by this point, I am not a major fan of Joe Duplantier's vocals on many of the tracks, which feel like a rather ho-hum mesh of grunts and snarling, like a modern Carcass with little visceral splash.

"Clone" showcases the band's love for tapping rhythms, something they continue to this day (on a number of Way of All Flesh tracks), and this is sadly the most interesting riff of the song. The rest of the track consists of big, mid-period Sepultura-like mosh/thrash, rolling double bass and not much in the way of a hook, not even the Prong-like riff at 2:00 with the squeal is enticing. They lead off "Lizard Skin" with a decent droning guitar rhythm, then break for a more mathematical chug-off akin to Meshuggah. "Satan is a Lawyer" introduces goofy, clean vocals over lightly distorted, almost funk-rock guitar rhythms, all of which are rather garbage until the band busts out the speed-picked neo-thrash rhythm at around 2:40. "04" is an interlude piece with more tapping mayhem, while "Blow Me Away You (niverse)" lurches with some sagging groove rhythms but finally picks up a little near the end.

I'm not a huge fan of that entire chunk of album, but after comes fascinating second interlude, " 5988 Trillions De Tonnes" formed of ambient swells and raggedy tribal percussion, which precedes "Deliverance", which opens with some thrash-u-puncture and grating and groove-laden death. "Space Time" is one of the strongest tracks on the album, with strong and curious drumming courtesy of Mario Duplantier, and Joe using his more identifiable, hoarse, angsty vocals. "On the B.O.T.A." emits some nutty tapping and a fusion-funk atmosphere, while "Rise" has an incredibly dense and sick verse rhythm, among some less interesting, chug chunks and then transforms back into the natural 'rain forest' percussive interlude of "5988 Trillions...".

The final stretch of Terra Incognito begins with the thunderous, low-end churn of "Fire is Everything", which devolves into a dull, minimal chug-a-long before taking the high road with a nice vocal/groove segment, only then to fall once more into another, sluggish, not very interesting riff that crashes into the closing patter of electronic rain. "Love" builds a rolling artillery in the verse, then crashing around your mind with some atmosphere before it erupts into a very Meshuggah breakdown interspersed with great percussive strikes. "1990 Quatrillions de Tonnes" uses somber, cleaner guitars and samples of vocal torment along a steady rock beat, like a river winding into Pandemonium and picking up echoes of the insanity beyond. The 'closer' to the album, "In the Forest" is another of its best tracks, building a feel reminiscent of the Dutch band Kong before the vocals, and then some very forceful palm muted rhythms that chug into the silence beyond...until a hidden instrumental track pops up for a brief spell.

I was not a huge fan of this album at the time, and even listening back to it today, it feels dated and more than a little sterile. They were merely a curiosity in 2000, another band that dared walk the ground of a Prong or Meshuggah but with less interesting songs than the former and little of the machine-like hostility of the latter (i.e. an album like Chaosphere). Since the band have taken off, being booked on huge tours and profiting from a large degree of buzz, they've matured considerably. For that reason, I'd suggest any of their later full-length offerings above this, and delegate Terra Incognita to those fans who want to listen to the band's 'demo' phase, where the soil was fertile with a crop of dynamic intentions, but the early harvest was simply not the best of eats.

Highlights: Space Time, In the Forest

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (my envelope is too tight now)

http://www.gojira-music.com/

Gojira - The Way of All Flesh (2008)

One of the more interesting bands to emerge from France in the past decade, Gojira return with their fourth album, a stunning work of hypnotic, grooving metal which I simply cannot get enough of. This is a pretty unique band, and they've gotten more so as they've progressed, but if I had to compare this to anyone I'd say it occupies a middle ground between Neurosis, Meshuggah and Prong. You could call it post-metal or post-hardcore and probably be just as accurate, but I am not writing a dissertation on scene semantics, so let's cut to the album itself.

The Way of All Flesh has a masterful mix, in fact it's the best mix I've heard this year. Amazing guitar tone, plodding bass, and balanced percussion. Joe Duplantier's vocals sound intense here, harsh and clear simultaneously. The album begins with "Oroborus", and as if you were staring into its endless coils, the world serpent has you directly in its gazed, hypnotized by the groovy tapped guitar riffing and pummeling bridge. The song is capped off in the end with some scintillating ambiance. A truly amazing track, and it's only the first. "Toxic Garbage Island" begins with a post-hardcore slugfest before slamming into you with this slower paced, simple progression of notes which once again hypnotizes. "A Sight to Behold" begins with some synth-like groove, mesmerizing vocal verse and then another of those sickeningly good tapped riffs. There's almost a shuffle in the band's gait here. "Yama's Messengers" is a heavier, mathematical groove with some lovely chords. "The Silver Cord" is an atmospheric, instrumental. The latter half of the album is consistent in quality, dominated by heavier tracks like "Esoteric Surgery", "Wolf Down the Earth" and the percussive "The Art of Dying".

Lyrics are also decent with this album, some good, some not so great, reminding me of a midpoint between Neurosis' pensive rumination and Meshuggah's awareness and precision:

Flesh bodies mute and blinded
Roaming uncertain, lost
Infected misinformed
Releasing a black enormous insect
Out from the chest
Archaic from disease

Some tangible poetic insight, if not every inch the peer of the music. The Way of All Flesh is the total package for this band, easily eclipsing their earlier albums in style and replay value. Never aping a particular influence. Never less than intriguing. It's one of the most important metal albums this year and a must for anyone who values creative quality. Sure to be a year's end favorite for myself and many other snobs.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (I'm of this kind that kills all day)

http://www.gojira-music.com/