Some bands release extreme music, and are therefore destined to remain in the underground. Some bands deliberately release music which will be eaten up by the masses quicker than a Black Friday TV sale. Then there is Gojira. A band which has slowly progressed from quirky death metal beginnings, through harder and softer variations of metal, but never losing their absolutely crushing tone they have made their signature. Bulling their way to the mainstream of heavy metal, without ever deliberately making moves to do so. On the way entering every conversation for one of the best and most important metal bands of all time. Their latest album Fortitude continues their inevitable evolution.
I wondered where Gojira would go with Fortitude. 2016’s Magma took a softer, more straight forward and easily accessible approach than their progressive and death metal beginnings. Album opener Born For One Thing is easily one of Gojira’s most crushing tracks to date. But don’t let that fool you into thinking this is going to be back to the old punishingly brutal ways. Instead, Fortitude feels like a natural bridge between The Way Of All Flesh and Magma. The desolate, experimental tone present in The Way Of All Flesh is mixed in with the ambient and accessible nature of Magma, losing none of the pulverising melody along the way.
None of that is summed up better than on Hold On. Daring to open with a prolonged intro that would fit squarely on a Ghost album – slowly building for 2 minutes before exploding to life. New Found, at the centre of the album is the (not so) hidden gem. At almost 7 minutes, the showpiece is the 2 minute riff filled outro. Sphinx and album closer Grind are straight up old school Gojira, and they’re glorious.
Gojira have also used Fortitude as a form of activism to address the deforestation of the Amazon – coupled with the release of single Amazonia. “The greatest miracle, is burning to the ground” is pretty much the perfect description of the impact humanity is having on the natural world. Only Gojira could continue to make musical masterpieces, and be legitimate heroes along the way. Is there a more important band in modern metal?
With Fortitude, Gojira have managed to encapsulate the progressive and crushing tone of their early work, with the expansive and accessible later work, and melded it masterfully. 7 albums in, and it’s fair to say most bands might have produced 1 or 2 gems, with some less than acceptable pieces (and likely a stinker in there too). Gojira however somehow never seem to disappoint. Even a just a little bit. To move from technical and progressive death metal, to experimental and melancholy, and everything in between, all the while gaining notoriety and populatiy, whilst never losing their core, signature style is truly something special. There will never be another band like the mighty Gojira.
Score: 9/10
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