Gojira – The Way of All Flesh

Listenable

2008

On 13th October, 2008, french metallers Gojira released their forth studio album titled The Way of All Flesh to mostly favorable reviews. Anticipation among fans was high after the break out success of the band’s 2005 effort, the stunning From Mars… to Sirius and by the time of this record’s release Gojira were critical darlings among established members of the metal community and rightly so; From Mars had been something of a sleeper hit for the band(everyone remembers the first time they heard “Heaviest Matter of the Universe”, my neck has never been quite the same since) with more and more people gradually becoming aware of their unique brand of Gallic progressive death infused metal. As such the band had something to prove with The Way of All Flesh and as we shall see later they mostly delivered whilst continuing to become a force in the mainstream metal world. The album was recorded at the bands home studio in Bayonne France and was produced, interestingly, by frontman Joe Duplantier, something that Duplantier himself sees as being almost crucial for the band when speaking to Metal Sucks in a 2008 interview; “For me, for my part, I consider myself more of a producer than a singer or a guitar player or composer. Producing is really what we do with Gojira even when we compose a song… we are producing ourselves with the artwork, the shows, the light shows, the videos ,everything. We are the producers”. The drums however were recorded in L.A and engineered by none other than sometime Machine Head guitarist Logan Mader (a sign of the bands growing recognition in mainstream metal) who also mixed and mastered the record. Production for the new record was surprisingly short with the album written and recorded in just six months with drummer Mario Duplantier attributing the relatively short timescale from previous records as a result of ongoing touring commitments (thanks u/vegmeister for the additional info!). As of the records themes, Duplantier described the album as addressing the death of the planet; I feel concerned about what is happening to the planet Earth, human beings, animals plants, mountains and water. I feel truly and deeply concerned”. Over a decade later these concerns are sadly more real then ever.

The Way of All Flesh kicks things off with “Oroborus” a track that immediately announces all the characteristics of the band’s work so far with elongated proggy guitar work and off kilter drumming from the excellent Mario Duplantier before transitioning into a heavy guitar riff and growled behind clenched teeth vocal style of Joe Duplantier before transitioning into an interesting proggy middle section with a pensive outro section. The song is a decent introduction into a record that would attempt to mesh the traditional Gojira sound into a slightly a more accessible commercial sound and “Oroborus is fairly representative of that. The excellent intriguingly titled “Toxic Garbage Island” is next beginning with heavy demented syncopated guitars and drums leading a glorious head banging main riff with blistering kick drums which then slows to an almost mid tempo pre bridge section with Duplanier’s agonized screams of “pain is killing me” leading to an extended kick drum workout from brother Mario and ending in a chaotic refrain of “Plastic bag in the sea!” which admitably back in 2008 was somewhat humorous on first listen, but now a message which has never resonated as much as it does today with a serious plastic problem in the world’s oceans gaining mainstream media attention in recent times.

“A Sight to Behold” follows, an odd sounding tune, beginning with dissonant synthesizer esque sounds and talk box complete with a mid tempo verse section and Joe Duplantier lamenting the current state of the planet before the song turns on a dime with a snaky descending riff leading into a raging heavy middle section which is more reminiscent of traditional Gojira closing out the track. “A Sight to Behold” is an excellent track, utterly Gojira yet something more different and dare say, more accessible to the casual listener. “Yama’s Messengers” is next up beginning with the atypical Gojira crunch riff (which is almost a calling card of the band) before leading into a blistering verse section replete with blasting from Mario Duplantier. The track is certainly ferocious if a little disjointed; the song feels more like a collection of very good ideas rather than a coherent track but it is still a brutal enjoyable listen which doesn’t outstay its welcome. The quite, pensive sounding “The Silver Cord” follows, an instrumental which serves as a kind of intermission for the record beautifully executed and evocative in its feel and when certain people who dismiss metal as being, well, shit and essentially music for the lowest common denominator in society, they should be made to listen to this record and this track. Preferably extremely loud.

“All The Tears” follows with the track beginning with a sound similar to From Mars with frenzied idiosyncratic guitars leading to more insane blasting from Mario Duplantier (his performance on this record is excellent throughout and a career high) however the track suffers from much the same issue as “Yama’s Messengers” a collection of good ideas better than the sum of the track itself. and at this point the record is beginning to sound slightly samey. “Adoration for None” follows and it’s a track ruined by guest vocalist and Lamb of God’s irritant frontman Randy Blythe more or less straight away. It’s the musical equivalent of pairing David Bowie with Nicki Minaj. Nothing against Lamb of God in particular although I’m not a fan, the track simply doesn’t mesh well with Blythe’s vocals and it feels as though the song was written just for him and is yet another indicator of Gojira’s ascension into the mainstream metal world and in all honesty the song suffers all the more for that.

Thankfully the next track “The Art of Dying” is excellent beginning with an atmospheric tribal percussion and drone like incantation, the track explodes into a demented riff and off beat drums with Duplantier extolling the virtue of dying; “I haven’t closed my eyes in a long time”. The track does a good job of creating a certain tension throughout before the esoteric middle section kicks in with the track ending out in a vast sounding outro which in turn becomes the intro to the excellent “Esoteric Surgery” beginning with a driving guitar riff and drums leading into an impossibly heavy verse riff with a semi catchy chorus section; this track always makes me want to get up and do something. The tracks middle section is a clash of riffage and blistering drum leading into a chaotic outro section which will induce severe whiplash if the listener is not careful.

“Vacuity” follows and it is a sinewy, pulsating track which is quite different to what Gojira has written before. An attempt, perhaps, at a more accessible sound, the track was the lead song from the album and had a suitably trippy music video to boot. The track is almost entirely mid tempo and more focused than the typical proggy Gojira tune and the chorus is memorable with a satisfying heavy middle section complete with yet more blasting from Mario Duplantier. “Vacuity” is a fairly inoffensive track which doesn’t outstay its welcome. “Wolf Down the Earth” is next beginning with that tried and true Gojira crunch riff leading into an off kilter feeling verse section before the track turns on a dime in an almost slow break down feel. “Wolf Down the Earth is probably the weakest track on The Way of All Flesh in that is doesn’t really offer anything new to what has already come before on the record. The Way of All Flesh ends with its title track; a massive bludgeoning slab of metal with demented syncopated guitars courtesy of Duplantier and lead guitarist Christian Andreu and driving drums with a chorus like a drill to the head. The tracks plays as a kind of death rattle for the record, the last the band would write for Listenable Records with the hidden ambient instrumental track acting as a coda to what has been a dense, mostly enjoyable listen.

The Way of All Flesh is a fine metal record worthy to the Gojira discography. It is not the bands best work; most fans will cite From Mars… To Sirius as the bands magnum opus, however this reviewer personally feels the stunning Terra Incognita best placed for that claim. Some of the material here doesn’t quite match up to the bands first three records, however as we have seen there is still a lot to apprentice about The Way of All Flesh. It was never going to be an easy task for the band to top From Mars… as we have seen of many artists down through the years, it can be a difficult job to surpass a seminal album. That being said if this record would be considered most metal bands best and I think that says a lot of the sheer talent of Gojira; granted some of the musical structures can be repetitive, but the band is so brave in their writing that really anything in their unique soundscapes is to be expected and the music has its own cultural unique flavor. If you missed out on this record when it came out, do give it another go, it’s a solid sometimes breathtaking Gojira record that will leave you wanting more and get you very cross at all the plastic in the sea.

Works Cited:

VN&AR.,(Jan 2009) Gojira’s Joe Duplantier: The official Metal Sucks Interview, Metal Sucks.

Interview Gojira Metalship: https://youtu.be/jSd2djuIAPU