Album Review: Gojira Go on a Stompfest

Gojira go on a stompfest on their latest album ‘Magma’. Photo by Travis Shinn

[easyreview cat1title = “Magma” cat1rating = “4” cat1detail = “Roadrunner”]

How do you top what most critics called your best album? If you’re French metal band Gojira, you start off by saying that the new one you’re working on is “the greatest album of all time”. After guitarist-vocalist Joe Duplantier impressed that upon fans in September last year, even before any music released from their sixth album Magma, it’s fair to say everyone’s hopes were sky high.

Artwork for ‘Magma’.

Compared to their 2012 album L’Enfant Sauvage, the new album Magma marches in with the dense pounding of “The Shooting Star” that overlays a wicked guitar lead as it progresses. Gojira live up to their monster-truck groove metal reputation throughout the 10-track album, fully backed by the wizardry of drummer Mario Duplantier who adds an odd signature on “The Cell” while guitarist Christian Andreu and bassist Jean-Michel Labadie never back down on the corrosive riffs. Joe Duplantier’s growl is very much pointed when he’s shouting “Open your eyes to the genocide” and “When you change yourself, you change the world” [“Silvera”] and pleading “Don’t lock the door on me” [the sublime single “Stranded”].

After a mandatory instrumental interlude [“Yellow Stone”], Gojira flex on the title track which boasts an unearthly guitar harmony. Headrushes are made of these, as chugged riffs and intricate drum fills match with scathing lead guitars, very much in the vein of American metal band Mastodon.

With a menacing tone throughout [“Pray” is full-fledged rollercoaster of groove], Gojira employ repetitiveness just as well as the likes of Meshuggah, making sure that each refrain is more powerful than the last on Magma.

Key tracks: “The Shooting Star,” “Stranded, “Magma”