France’s heavy metal eco-warriors, Gojira, are back with new album The Way of All Flesh (Prosthetic Records)—their fourth and most solid record to date. Gojira have really honed the strengths they displayed on 2005’s great From Mars to Sirius, resulting in a powerful, consistent record that rewards with each further listen.

I was really into Gojira’s last record, From Mars to Sirius, ever since I saw the video for “To Sirius.” Visually, it had such a different look than any metal video I had seen in a long time. It felt like a combo of Megadeth’s “Sweating Bullets” directed by the stop-motion auteurs Brothers Quay. Slowly but surely, the song crept into my head and soon it was all I wanted to listen to.

Firmly rooted in extreme metal, “To Sirius,” and the rest of From Mars, was a great mix of death metal, progressive thrash, the best parts of Meshuggah and the sludgy parts of Morbid Angel. Not to mention a dash of Earth Crisis eco-defense, which is always fine by me. I was really into the record, even though it contained some definite filler between it’s stronger moments. Whereas with From Mars I would skip over some tracks, The Way of All Flesh holds my attention by moving from heavy to heavier…and then crushing. One of Gojira’s talents on display with Flesh is their ability to keep riffs evolving so that the music remains constantly engaging and fresh.

They start the record with the killer hammer-on riff of “Oroborus,” which seems to be a continuation of the ending riff from the last album’s closer “Global Warming.” The guys also flex their Morbid Angel–style sludgy triplet parts, like on the beginning of “Yama’s Messengers.”

The Way of All Flesh’s repetitive, off-kilter rhythm guitar parts will still draw Meshuggah comparisons, but the Frenchman imbue their approach with humanity, something Meshuggah, who often come off sounding like they are doing robotic rhythmic exercises instead of actual songs, do not.

And fans of Gojira’s patented backward sweep arpeggios need not fear: they are still there. They are just scaled back and not used so much as on From Mars to Sirius, which was probably a smart move, as they were starting to become like Zack Wylde’s ubiquitous artificial harmonics (I sorta bet Zack Wylde doesn’t even realize he’s doing them at this point).

There is definitely a distinct groove to Gojira’s parts. On a song like “The Art of Dying,” they fall into a groove movement that has a hardcore feel to it, almost like an early Vision of Disorder song, especially when drummer Mario Duplantier starts breaking it down on his china. You can totally picture some dude in a sideways baseball cap, rocking a Merauder shirt doing the hardcore one shoulder sway. But just as I stand behind the VOD 95 demo, I stand behind “The Art of Dying.”

Mario Duplantier’s drum work is definitely the standout gem of Gojira’s sound. No matter what song it is, there’s always something about his drumming that I really enjoy. It is really techy, but never really feels like he is showing off. It all serves the song. He reminds me of a more organic Sean Reinert [Cynic] or Richard Christy [Death, Iced Earth], mixed with the tom work and straightforward beats of older Igor Cavalera [Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy].

To tell you the truth, listening to Duplantier’s blast beats is a thoroughly satisfying activity for me. They are not the heaviest, or the fastest. But they have this nice rubbery feel to them, with slight variations mixed in on his ride work. They remind me of [Municipal Waste’s] David Witte’s blasts in that I feel I can always tell when it is Witte blasting. I can always tell Duplantier’s blasting. It just has it’s own distinct feel. Which is excellent.

Guitarist/singer (and brother to Mario) Joe Duplantier’s lyrics and vocals are also a big part of Gojira. The lyrics on this record are focused on the subject of death, as the natural progression from the lyrics on the last record about the dying of the earth. Using the first person narrative in his lyrics, combined with the fact that the lyrics were written in English by a native French speaker, makes for sometimes embarrassingly sincere lyrics. It feels like a mid Nineties hardcore record in that regard.

Lines like “How could I fail to understand. Cities are burning, the trees are dying, My heart awake but still pain is killing me” has such a different feel from your normal death metal lyrics. When it is shouted in Duplantier’s low-yet-understandable rasp you feel like you are right back singing songs about the Animal Liberation Front. Randy Blythe from Lamb of God, does guest vocals on “Adoration For None” which suits the intensity of the song well. Not to mention, that getting the vocalist from one of the biggest metal bands going right now can’t hurt sales.

The only low point on the record is the first half of the third song “A Sight to Behold.” The early Nineties synth riff is embarrassingly terrible. It reminds me of the local industrial band that I think we all had in our scene growing up, playing with subpar equipment and subpar talent. It is so goofy sounding, which is a shame cause the second half of the song is rock solid. But I doubt I’m ever gonna be able to give it a solid listen because I hate the beginning so much. The length of the record can also be daunting. At 12 songs with an average of 5 minutes a song, with “The Art of Dying” itself almost 10 minutes, it can be hard to ingest this record in one sitting.

My minor complaints aside, Gojra’s The Way of All Flesh shows a band that has fine-tuned all of its elements and sculpted it down to a punishing, rhythmic sound that is truly its own. I am definitely looking forward to see where they go from here. —Geoff Garlock