Mar 312016
 

Gojira 2016-photo by Travis Shinn
photo credit: Travis Shinn

When names as big as Gojira and Katatonia both release new music on the same day, if you wait more than a few hours to write about it, the odds are that almost everyone who cares about those bands has already been clued in by someone else. But I’m writing about these developments anyway because “Half-Assed” is my middle name and I feel compelled to live up to it. And I’ll throw in a few other new developments that have been somewhat less pervasively recognized across the web.

GOJIRA

As I read Rolling Stone’s interview/listening-session (here) with the Duplantier brothers that appeared yesterday, I became increasingly uneasy. Reading Kory Grow’s descriptions of some of the songs from Gojira’s forthcoming new album that he heard while talking with the brothers in their New York City studio made me fear that Gojira have become a French variant of Mastodon, making a big sweeping turn into radio-friendly rock. Will their first video for the album include twerking? Continue reading »

Jul 072014
 

Here are two North American tours announced this morning that are worth mentioning.

MASTODON-GOJIRA-KVELERTAK

In our first post this morning I included a report from Metal Hammer based on an interview with Gojira’s frontman Joe Duplantier that the Gojira would be touring with Mastodon this October. There were no further details then, but there are now.

In addition to the pairing of Mastodon and Gojira, the tour will also include Norway’s Kvelertak and it will include dates in both the U.S. and Canada. A pre-sale for tickets and a limited number of VIP packages will become available this Wednesday, July 9, at 10 a.m. local venue time. General sales will begin on July 11.

Here’s the schedule (sadly for me, they’re skipping Seattle this time): Continue reading »

Jul 072014
 

I spotted some news items over the last 24 hours that I thought were worth sharing, and the following four happened to all come from France, so I’m bundling them together here. There’s some new music at the end, too.

GOJIRA

According to a brief interview with Joe Duplantier backstage at the Sonisphere festival reported by Metal Hammer yesterday, Gojira will be embarking on a tour with Mastodon in October and will then be going straight into the studio to begin recording their sixth album for release in 2015. To listen to the audio of the brief interview, go here.

UPDATE: The Mastodon-Gojira North American tour has now been confirmed. Norway’s Kvelertak will also be on the tour, and the schedule can be found here.

And then, about an hour ago, Gojira began streaming a video on YouTube called “Summer Fest Part 1” with clips from some of their European festival appearances so far this summer, set to some slow, quasi-psychedelic instrumental music. Watch that next.

https://www.facebook.com/GojiraMusic Continue reading »

Apr 062014
 

I’ve collected here some things that made a big impression on me when I discovered them over the last 24 hours. Perhaps they will make an impression on you, too.

IMPALED NAZARENE

2014 will see the release of the TWELFTH (!!) album by Finland’s Impaled Nazarene. Although I haven’t listened to even half of those dozen, I’ve listened enough to know that although their sound might not be entirely predictable from album to album (not a bad thing), it’s always likely to be a skull-hammering good time. From what I’ve heard of the new album, that will hold true yet again.

The new one’s name is Vigorous and Liberating Death, and the album cover was painted by Taneli Jarva. It’s scheduled for release by Osmose Productions on April 14. It includes 13 songs, almost all in sub-three-minute territory. You can get a sense of what’s coming via a track named “Kuoleman Varjot” that recently appeared on SoundCloud. Plus, the band have released a lyric video for the album’s title track. You can check out both below. Continue reading »

Feb 032014
 

As if winning the Superb Owl weren’t enough of a prize for the City of Seattle, this morning brought news of yet another prize:  Seattle will be the first date in a US tour that for my money will be a must-see event for 2014. Mastodon will be the headliners, with support from Gojira and Kvelertak.

The only problem with this announcement is that while all the press statements note that the tour begins in Seattle, I haven’t yet seen one that says WHERE in Seattle the show will be played, and Seattle is omitted from the usual list of dates and venues that have been appearing — all of which you can see after the jump. If anyone figures out the location, do let me know.

UPDATE (2/10/14): New dates/venues have now been added to the tour schedule, including that Seattle location. I’ve updated the schedule that appears after the post.

Goddamn, I’m excited for this show… Continue reading »

Jan 232014
 

 

Not long ago a certain web site that referred to the almighty Gojira as “French art-metallers” (wha???) premiered a live video of the band performing “Flying Whales” at London’s Brixton Academy last year, and holy shit, is it good!

The video is included in a CD/DVD of the entire performance at Brixton Academy, which will accompany an art book entitled Les Enfants Sauvages. One of the photos from the book appears above and more can be viewed at that other web site. You can order the book here.

Watch the video after the jump. You’ll be glad you did. Continue reading »

Oct 232013
 

(In this post, Andy Synn offers thoughts and opinions about the challenges that upwardly mobile bands face once they reach the peak of success within the confines of metal, and about the risks of attempting to make a leap into the mainstream. Your thoughts, as always, will be welcome in the Comment section.)

Oooh… there’s that word. The “M” word. A term so divisive I bet half of you just vomited from sheer internet-based rage. A word so contentious we had to invent our own subdivision of it (the “metal mainstream”) just to better separate the “true” from the “false”.

But… does it have its place? And if it does (and I think it does)… what are we going to do with it?

After the jump… my lengthy, stream-of-consciousness, pseudo-philosophical ramblings on the subject! Continue reading »

Oct 182013
 

Here’s a collection of items I spotted on a quick dash through the interhole today.

GOJIRA

I saw that the gents at Metal Sucks premiered a new Gojira video. It’s a professionally filmed live performance of “The Gift of Guilt”, from last year’s L’Enfant Sauvage, at London’s O2 Brixton Academy. I confess that when the first finger-tapped notes of the melody began, I got chills and a flood of beautiful memories of the live Gojira shows I’ve been lucky enough to attend. The video is also fresh evidence that Mario Duplantier is one of the best drummers in metal today.

To watch the clip, jump over to this location.

On top of that, MS reported that Roadrunner Records has released a live EP that includes three Gojira songs (including “The Gift of Guilt” and three songs by Norway’s Kvelertak, and it can be yours for the price of an e-mail address. To stream and or download it, go here. This is the track list: Continue reading »

Oct 032013
 

Beginning this Friday and for the following week, you will be able to stream Gojira’s 50-minute performance at Hellfest 2013, the French metal festival in Clisson, France. Gojira performed on June 23, and according to this site their setlist consisted of the following songs:

Explosia
Flying Whales
Backbone
The Heaviest Matter of the Universe
L’Enfant Sauvage
Connected
Remembrance
Wisdom Comes
Jam (Mario on guitar, Joe on drums)
Fire Is Everything
Oroborus
Where Dragons Dwell

As for where you can stream the film of the performance, well, you can do it right here because the player can be embedded and I’ve embedded it. Continue reading »