Metal Underground.com

With the U.S. release of the album “From Mars to Sirius,” the French metal band Gojira is looking to bring their hard-to-define blend of grindcore, metalcore, and death metal to the masses. Now with three releases under their belt, including “Terra Incognita” and “The Link,” Gojira has already garnered quite a buzz and a lot of support among U.S. fans, with numerous comparisons to Meshuggah and Morbid Angel floating around the internet. However, Gojira seems a little more machine-like and less whimsical than those comparisons. While it is difficult to make accurate comparisons, Gojira is mildly reminiscent of the recent Eyes of Fire, but with heavier vocals and a more frenetic pacing. Gojira implements overwhelming, sometimes tiring drum bombardments and punishing guitar riffs mixed with quasi-clean, thought heavy (and often yelled), vocals. The overall mixture yields a heavy sound, but a low excitement factor.

There are a few major highlights on “From Mars to Sirius,” most of which are sandwiched in the middle of the album. Though “From Mars to Sirius” begins with a whimper, the consecutive tracks “The Heaviest Matter in the Universe” and “Flying Whales” are simply crushing, mosh-worthy songs, with the latter being the highlight of the album. If these tracks are the meat, however, what’s left of “From Mars to Sirius” is hardly satisfying. Clocking in at a hefty sixty-seven minutes, Gojira might have done well to cut some of the fat from the album before its release. Gojira does, however, attempt to change things up a little, with some lengthy, atmospheric instrumental sections, and a different take on songwriting. Lyrically, Gojira is a bit more refreshing than the average, ranging in topic from the fantastic to the environmentally aware.

Gojira has managed to create a distinct sound that manages to break out of the status quo for today’s metal scene. However, while Gojira has forged a unique, heavy sound, the music often feels like noise just for the sake of more noise. A couple of headbanging tracks are worthy of discovery, but the overall product doesn’t quite realize the raw heaviness that Gojira shoots for.