Metal Underground.com

It is often a complaint by metal heads that today's heavy metal is uninteresting or it’s not interesting enough. Gojira, a relatively new band, has not suffered the previous complaints. Gojira is difficult to categorize as far metal genres are concerned, but they have often been compared to Meshuggah for their progressive nature with odd time signatures and stampeding riffs. They also have a heavy groove metal aspect to their music. Regardless of what you want to call Gojira, they have won many metal heads over in a short amount of time. Their third album, "From Mars to Sirius," gave them major success around the world. This album was angry and full of great riffs and a breath of fresh air in the current metal scene. The anger of this album was centered on the album’s concept regarding the earth and the environment. The lyrics were well written with music that did much more then complement the lyrics.

So after the great, world-wide success and praise of "From Mars to Sirius," how was Gojira, a quickly rising band, going to top this album? The answer is simple. Gojira released another album three years later, titled "The Way of All Flesh."

“The Way of All Flesh” is not only a step up in progressive standards, but also in anger. Even though they are mostly compared to Meshuggah and Morbid Angel, I think another note worthy comparison would be Sepultura. This album’s concept seems to be centered not so much on the environment, but more on humanity and issues about death. The first song, "Oroborus," is very mechanical and straight forward, making for a great album opener. At times the Joe Duplantier’s (vocalist) voice sounds like a robot as this mechanical riffing song quickly moves forward. The use of guitar in this track is the driving force. "Oroborus" ends on a mellow note before "Toxic Garbage Island" begins. "Toxic Garbage Island" is intense with plenty of riff changes and some machine-like blast beats. Duplantier’s screaming vocals are at their peak.

Track three, "A Sight To Behold," returns to the robotic-like vocals with pretty interesting instrumentals throughout, making this one of the more interesting tracks on the album. As the track moves forward, the anger keeps on increasing and increasing. The aggression continues on "Yama’s Messengers." The album takes a deep breath with "The Silver Cord" before blasting onward for the rest of album.

There is a notable addition on "Adoration for None," where Randy Blythe from Lamb of God adds vocals, which adds a nice touch to the song and doesn’t stray to much from the Gojira sound. For fans of Lamb of God who may not have heard Gojira and vice versa, this guest appearance may serve to gather some new fans for each bands.

Track eight, "The Art of Dying," is standout in this album. Its tribal energy and typical Gojira sound makes for a wild ride. "The Art of Dying" is the second longest track on the album, at nearly 10 minutes. The album ends in a way that takes a page out of Opeth’s book - think the end of the track “Deliverance” and “Heir Apparent” - by having a long, repeated yet energizing riff, lasting over four minutes before the track fades away. The three tracks to follow are not to terribly impressive. The anger and intensity of the tracks are strong, but they're nothing that we haven’t heard. This brings the album to the last track, "The Way of all Flesh," which is another standout like "The Art of Dying" and the first four tracks. "The Way of all Flesh" clocks in at 17:04 minutes in length but there are a few minutes of silence until some instrumentals pick back up at the end, which aren’t really special and may be a let down, but the track overall is one of the best and unique out of the whole album.

Gojira's latest effort seems to be a step forward and another strong release for those who enjoyed their last effort "From Mars to Sirius." The message is different this time around and focuses on humans in relation to our actions and death, as opposed to the environmental centered album, "From Mars to Sirius." Those of you jumped on to the Gojira bandwagon will be pleased overall with "The Way of All Flesh." For those unfamiliar with the band, check them out if you like bands such as Lamb of God, Meshuggah, Mastodon, Suffocation, Fear Factory, Sepultura, Opeth, and Morbid Angel.