:: Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh

Gojira

For French act Gojira, success has been a slow and gradual process, with the band only really making an impact on the global scene with the release of their third full-length effort ‘From Mars To Sirius’ from 2005. Since then, the progressive death/thrash metal quartet have been busy touring alongside the likes of Children Of Bodom, Lamb Of God, Trivium, Sanctity, Amon Amarth, Behemoth and Job For A Cowboy, all the while building up momentum for their next full-length effort. Well, after a lengthy three year break between albums, Gojira have finally returned with their life/death themed fourth full-length release ‘The Way Of All Flesh’, and it definitely lives up to expectations. Gojira isn’t what you would call an easy act to digest, with their influences and penchant for trying their hand at every genre under the sun allowing their songs to be labelled under a whole host of genre tags. But for all of the diverse sounds, melody has started to creep into Gojira’s sound more than ever before on ‘The Way Of All Flesh’, with the opening track ‘Oroborus’ one of the band’s more accessible numbers. But while there’s a sense of catchiness evident (especially on the vocoder aided vocal presence), it’s the hypnotic weave of fast riffing and the sense of dynamics throughout the song that remains every bit as challenging as Gojira’s compositions of the past that remain steadfastly intact. Another selection that carefully balances out the band’s trademark heaviness and newfound sense of melody is the single/promotional video clip ‘Vacuity’, which easily marks the song as an early favourite. Odd time changes mixed with a strong groove make up most of ‘Toxic Garbage Island’, while on ‘A Sight To Behold, Gojira throw preconceptions out the window with its synthesised riffs, vocodered vocals and strangely simplified delivery. But for all of its strangeness, the song really is one of the album’s more unique and stronger songs.

Both the lumbering ‘Yama’s Messengers’ and quickened ‘All The Tears’ are more straight forward riff heavy tracks that are given an interesting twist with their underlying rhythmic accompaniment, while the savage ‘Adoration For None’ is given some extra bite with Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe providing guest vocals alongside Duplantier. The epic ‘The Art Of Dying’ is by far the most varied and progressive track on the album, with a whole host of different movements and genres crammed into its ten minute running time, while ‘Esoteric Surgery’, the slower paced ‘Wolf Down The Earth’ and the oddly compelling closer ‘The Way Of All Flesh’ only add to the wide array of rich sounds and eclectic tastes that help make ‘The Way Of All Flesh’ sound unique and interesting. Gojira certainly isn’t the sort of band that appeals to everyone’s taste, but if you’re after something a little more challenging, then Gojira’s latest comes highly recommended.