Gojira - From Mars to Sirius (2005)

1. Ocean Planet
2. Backbone
3. From The Sky
4. Unicorn
5. Where Dragons Dwell
6. The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe
7. Flying Whales
8. In The Wilderness
9. World To Come
10. From Mars
11. To Sirius
12. Global Warming

Gojira is an up and coming band from France that is shaking ground with every step. I recently seen them on their first U.S. tour with Lamb of God, Machine Head, and Trivium, and they were outstanding live. Granted I never heard their material, the performance made me download their discography. "From Mars to Sirius" is their latest addition, and strongest. What is extremely unique about Gojira is how their lyrics are influenced by their environmentalist views. Basically every song's lyrics involve some sort of destruction or preservation of the Earth.

The instrumentation is of very high quality, everything seems to fit. The drummer is especially exceptional with his blast beats and generally interesting fills. Its a drumming style that is seldom heard in the death metal scene.

Every riff is solid and sounds like a fucking train smashing your skull in. There are some brutal riffs and ambiance that just hasn't been witnessed by the North American Metal scene at least. There are times is songs where is transitions rapidly from death to ambient progressive calming sequences and vice versa. This is very reminiscent of Opeth, but they add their French twist to it. So they definitely have their own style.

Some of my favorites on this CD is "Backbone" with its cossack-dance like intro. Its seems mysteriously natural. "Unicorn" reminds me of Pink Floyd, but Gojira's twist involves samples of whale sounds which is very calming. "The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe" lives up to its name 100%, probably their heaviest meat grinding song on this album. Just listen to that first riff, can you hear Nile or Cannibal Corpse coming up with something as heavy or equally progressive? Didn't think so. Check out "Flying Whales", its pretty much their prima donna on this CD.

(9/10) These Frenchies don't stink at metal, thats for sure.