ClubAntix

It has always been hard to put a tag on GOJIRA, one of the most extreme bands France has ever produced. But then again, the band has never really sought out such a tag, instead letting the music do the talking, preferring introspection and intelligence over preconceived notions and preexisting tags.

Ever since the 1996 formation in town of Bayonne in the southwest of France, GOJIRA has been an ever-evolving experiment in extreme metal ultimately built upon a worldly, ever-conscious outlook with roots firmly-planted both in the hippie movement and an environmentally-conscious, new age mentality.

Originally dubbed Godzilla, after the scaly, green film star with an equally huge reputation as the newfound band's sound, the brothers Duplantier - guitarist/vocalist Joe and drummer Mario - and fellow Frenchmen Jean Michel Labadie on bass and Christian Andreu on guitar, quickly released several demos, ultimately changing the band's name and independently releasing the first GOJIRA album, 'Terra Incognita', in 2001, offering up a brief glimpse into the giant GOJIRA would eventually become through persistent hard work and years of toiling in the metal underground.

Following the immense praise of their third album 'From Mars To Sirius' and recurring trips across the Atlantic for North American touring alongside the likes of Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, and Behemoth among others, GOJIRA established its stranglehold on the extreme metal spectrum with a linguist's touch, a lyricist's finesse, and a crushingly heavy live show that left audiences astounded, establishing the band's live performance as a spot-on recreation of the band's increasingly adept and intelligent studio output.

While 2007 wrapped with GOJIRA again touring North America on the Radio Rebellion Tour alongside Behemoth to the best reaction yet, the dawn of 2008 saw a nearly 10 month wait for while the band assembled 'The Way of All Flesh', one of the year's most anticipated records. This time revolving around the undeniable dilemma of a mortal demise, GOJIRA's soundtrack to the situation seems fitting. Shifting ever-so-slightly from the eco-friendly orchestra of impending doom on 'From Mars To Sirius' to the band's new message of the equally uncontrollable inevitability of death, 'The Way of All Flesh' melds the open and airy progressive passages GOJIRA has become famous for with the sonically dense sounds and bludgeoningly heavy rhythms that makes the band an equally intelligent force as it is unmatchably heavy. GOJIRA have indeed opened a new bag of tricks for 'The Way Of All Flesh', while not abandoning the sound that first showed a massive promise of potential on Sirius.

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