Gojira – Magma

"I felt physically, mentally exhausted. At the same time, though, the way it happened was beautiful. We were all around her. We had to cancel few shows when she died, but it was very enriching at the same time. We learned a lot about death"  

- Joe Duplantier, Vocals, Guitars 

Of all the great Gojira records, why Magma ?. This was the question that I asked myself when I thought about writing about this album and the same question might crop up for someone who is familiar with the band's sound. For those of you who aren't familiar with Gojira, here is your prologue.

Gojira is a French progressive death metal band consisting of brothers Joe and Mario Duplantier, Christian Andreu and Jean-Michel Labadie. It's hard to explain how Gojira sounds but still I am giving it a try. Mix 3 pars of Morbid Angel riffs, 1 part of Death's vocal phrasings, 1 part of Neurosis's post metal atmosphere, 3 parts of environmental and nature themed lyrics and 5 parts of raw, unhinged passion, what you get is Gojira but still, listen to From Mars to Sirus to be clear. They always had an ear for epic song structures and a concern for the world around them, eschewing the nihilism, misanthropy and masculinity associated with most heavy metal bands they crafted a unique sound for themselves. It is no surprise that Gojira is liked and respected world wide, what struck me however is their zeal for the matters they believe in and the way it is presented, with vigour, aggression and pure emotion.

Magma is different from their previous records, for many the album was a disappointment and a surprise, for me it was just a logical conclusion to where Gojira was heading. The quote at the start was taken from their interview by Rolling Stone, during the recording for Magma the Duplantier brothers lost their mother through her death and the music and the lyrics reflects this heartfelt loss. The album is filled with emotions to the brim, the epic long songs gets replaced with the ones that are short and direct. This time their lyrics are personal rather than a testament of the world around and everything here sounds inspired and fresh. I'd rather hear an album that takes risks fully aware that it could be a misstep rather than some calculated recycled ideas made from a successful template.

Right from the start they let you know that this is a different beast, The Shooting Star features a cleanly sung star-stop almost staccato verse and a dreamy reverb laden chorus. It is not the first time the band used clean vocals, they have used it before but occasionally, but here the vocals carry the song and I applaud their guts to place this song first in this ten song album. Silvera is the closest they get to their sound, the fastest song on the album, featuring their famous 'pick scrap' riffs and when Joe screams "When you change yourself, you change the world" you know that this is Gojira. The personal and direct nature of the album is written all over the next song "The Cell"  featuring a simple but heavy verse riff and an anthemic chorus. The album grows in intensity as it progresses with the song Stranded, which starts off with the lyric.

"A growing sickness in the dark

distinctive lack of control

The cure is somewhere in the silence 

but I am crushed by the noise inside"

The song is about one's personal struggles like the one they had and Joe tries to redeem himself towards the end as the words "Leave the moment alone" are sung again and again creating a serene atmosphere, almost trance inducing. After a brief instrumental interlude comes the title track, the song aurally and lyrically paints the picture of the album artwork and considering the album's sorrowful background you can probably guess what they mean when they sing "Embrace the light on the otherside"  towards the end.

 Mario Duplantier and Joe Duplantier

Let me skip two songs to write about my favorite song of the album Low Lands, the song is probably the biggest stylistic departure they have done on this album, it has a slow build up leading to a crescendo towards the end wherein it reaches the album's emotional zenith. I am not a big fan of music videos, usually an accompanying video ruins my vision of the song and in heavy metal the video it's almost always the band playing in a basement or a garage. The video of Low Lands is different, it is directed by French cinematographer Alain Duplantier, the cousin of the Duplantier brothers. It is a tribute to their homeland showing the places the brothers grew up and it is as gorgeous as the song, like the song the visuals gets more intense as the song progresses. If this post made you check out anything, I hope that it is the video of Low Lands, it is a work of art and one of the best music videos I've seen.     

Magma, is definitely not their best work and it's far from perfect but it is the Gojira album that resonates with me the most on an emotional level. The album to their discography is quite like Metallica's self tittled release in 1991, both albums are direct and accessible when compared to their previous works, one changed their approach to be more mainstream another 25 later, changed their sound to carry two brother's emotions in loosing their mother. There are great albums that makes the artists invincible in what they do and then there are albums like Magma reminding us that they are indeed human.