Metal needs more bands like Gojira. A band that lives up to the hype and has the music to back up their monstrous name, they’re socially conscious of the global climate yet the music is still potent even if you don’t subscribe to their message. Perhaps all of this is why the metal community can tolerate a four year gap in albums from the French metallers. If four years is what it takes to create an album like L’Enfant Sauvage, however, it was definitely time well spent on Gojira’s part.
“L’Enfant Sauvage” the song was the first taste and it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of this beast of an album. “Explosia” opens up L’Enfant Sauvage and is a piledriver of riffs supported by one THE best rhythm sections in modern metal executed with precision by Mario Duplantier on drums and bassist Jean-Michel Labadie. Another highlight (Among many) is the second single “Liquid Fire” in which the other Duplantier in Gojira, Joe, and Christian Andreu display the ferocious guitar techniques that the band is known for.
The problem with their last record, The Way Of All Flesh (Still a brilliant addition to the Gojira catalog), is that it was long. At 75 minutes, it contained long, drawn out songs that took too much time to give listeners that punch…that payoff. That is not the case at all on L’Enfant Sauvage. Barely any song goes over the six minute mark here. They’re concise. They’re brutal. And they make the 52 minute album as a whole that much more enjoyable.
The latter half especially compared to …Flesh is so much better. From “Mouth Of Kala” until the end, Gojira just beat listeners into submission with hypnotic riffage and shockingly anthemic choruses. “The Gift Of Guilt” turns up the prog with syncopated harmonics starting off the procession while closer “The Fall” is a dark, dreary, doom-laden slow burn that echoes the visuals Joe Duplantier conveys in his lyrics.
Easily a contender for metal album of the year, L’Enfant Sauvage is out on June 26th through Roadrunner Records. Click this link for some great pre-order options.
Grade: A+