Gojira
The Way of All Flesh

Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist

I once saw these guys open for In Flames. It was a weird experience, considering these guys don't sound like In Flames by any means, but they impressed me with their live presence and most of all their incredibly high standards of musicianship. They used loads of tempo changes on top of loud, groovy riffs that made headbanging a chore but it is still some amazingly heavy music (not far from what Meshuggah tend to play nowadays.) Also of note is that these guys are French but actually know enough English to sing in it, which is interesting because usually the French aren't that gratuitous with their foreign languages.

So they were on tour supporting this here album, The Way of All Flesh, and this here album sounds much like the way they do live, also taking cues from the previous From Mars to Sirius musically. Gojira have a very weird sound, that it seems they took their basic blueprint from Meshuggah, but went and did some other things with it. For a first, their riffs are less thrashy and more based on groove; there is still some more uptempo drumming to be found (Toxic Garbage Island is a notable example). For a second, they have more atmospherics and electronics floating around than Meshuggah do. Whereas Meshuggah go for the low-notes wall of sound and use that to create a mechanic atmosphere, Gojira plunge into bits of guitar feedback and weird *** that pops up every here and there during the album to alleviate the grinding metal parts.

In comparison to their back catalog this seems to stand out just a little more. Gojira listeners will be familiar with the old mantra that seems to surround their records: "more is less." Gojira have always had a tendency to adhere to that and to put too many songs on their records, spanning the good bits between filler to achieve runtimes over an hour rather than a more conventional 45 minute format. Gojira have an interesting formula, but their monotonous amelodic groove and chug just doesn't offer enough diversity to hold a listener's interest for that amount of time. This album suffers from that too, but there are still hoards of metal gold to be found: "Oroborous", "Toxic Garbage Island", "Vacuity", the title track, they all have some majorly impressive riffs that keep a metal listener's head nodding.

The issue is that because of the non-melodic nature, these riffs make you bang your head when you hear it, but very little of it remains stuck in your head, so that you're forced to sit down with the album multiple times to get it (it's a grower.) On top of that some of the rhythmic changes seem to have a jarring effect; songs seem to hover between different tempos and never make up their mind as to which one they want to stick to. It is a nice listen for musicians, but a casual listener will find the effect distracting and switch to something more accessible and less weird overall. Gojira's main audience were never the corekiddies, but there's a major part of a possible fanbase (considering they have toured with bands like Lamb of God and Chimaira) that is turned off by this indecisiveness. It remains very artistic however; and no one can deny that Gojira have boatloads of musicianship in their arsenal. It's just that the limits they impose on themselves with their musical niche don't allow them to come to complete fruition. They have some amazing parts, amazing songs even, but Gojira still cannot seem to fashion a coherent record throughout their runtime.

That being said it's still a recommended listen for people into this style of music. Gojira possess a high sense of artistry, and also lyrically they are far more esoteric, forsaking politics and human relations to discuss environmental issues. It is almost IQ-metal in that sense it will definitely appeal to fans of Meshuggah, Textures and their ilk. I think tech-death fans (Cynic, Atheist come to mind) will also find lots to like here. It's a record made by musical artists for artistical fans; it has a limited appeal and will seem overdone and monotone to a casual listener, but I think the niche fanbase will find a lot to like here, and sure as hell some of these riffs have some major groove. Let's hope Gojira figures it out on the next one.

7 weird experiences out of 10.

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4.1 excellent

Rank: #99 for 2008