Gojira – Magma

Back in November 2014, the band began to set up their own studio in the New York borough of Queens: the Silver Cord Studio. When it was ready in early 2015, Gojira started songwriting and recording the new album. However, these were interrupted for some time due to a death in the family of singer Joe and drummer Mario Duplantier. They finally finished recording and mixing in early 2016.

"Magma" is the name of the ten-song result, of which Gojira have already released two singles in advance, namely "Stranded" and "Silvera". Both songs clearly show what the tenor of the new album is: progressive death metal, which this time is a bit less epic than on the predecessors, but a bit edgier. The riffs are as heavy as ever, but Joe Duplantier's vocals often sound surprisingly clean by Gojira standards. The songs have become shorter overall.

But all this doesn't change the fact that you can clearly hear who this is about on the new album.

Gojira is a band that hasn't had to prove for a long time that they belong to the crème de la crème of international metal. Nevertheless, on "Magma" they do it again. 

Reviews

"On their sixth album, French death-prog metallers Gojira present themselves catchier and more compact than usual, without losing quality." (MINT No. 6, August 2016)

AllMusic rating: