When you’re Gojira, one of the metal world’s most revered bands for their unsparing brutal brand of death, groove and experimental metal, there’s certainly a lot of pressure to prove yourself.
The band took it upon themselves to rise to the challenge, calling what become their sixth album ‘the greatest of all time’ in interviews.
Who would have thought the French could be so arrogant, right? Cultural jibes notwithstanding, Gojira are known to toil on their albums – and that shows equally on their 10-track new album Magma . A wail of a guitar leads into an epic-level riff on the opening track ‘The Shooting Star’, as drummer Mario Duplantier immediately gets to work on those lightning fast fills. Gojira know how to rain down the intense weight upon listeners, because they’ve got every groove to be proud of on Magma . ‘Silvera’, their frenetic second single, sticks in your head from the first riff.
Yes, the riffs are repeated over and over, and the tones are very much familiar to their fifth album L’Enfant Sauvage . But it’s not like anyone is tired of that album. A continuation of sorts, Magma features twisted metal (like the mind-baffling relentless groove-beating songs ‘Only Pain’, ‘The Cell’ and ‘Stranded’) that occasionally turns into ethereal passages of lead guitar work by Joe Duplantier.
The titular track ‘Magma’ features both – a goosebumps-inducing harmony over pounding rhythms.
They stretch it out to over six minutes, but you know this is one song listeners won’t stop going back to play.
The menacing continues on ‘Pray’, featuring an apt chant-like vocal melody from Joe. For a band that strongly believes in talking about growing environmental concerns, Goijra don’t mince their words when they point their fingers solely at the human race on ‘Pray’. Joe sings, “No faith in your world/Create my own to thrive.” Over an odd-time signature on the emotionally-charged ‘Low Lands’, the band drearily sings about human greed as well as the optimism that the earth will continue to survive.
That’s a good takeaway as any when your ears are treated to Gojira’s unending barrage of riffs.
