Gojira - From Mars To Sirius (2005)

While the first two Gojira records created buzz, it was not until the third record "From Mars To Sirius" in which the band hit their stride and became real famous within the metal community, taking their craft to a whole new planetary level. It is with this album where Gojira finds that perfect balance of groove, atmosphere, and brutality, fusing together to make a true juggernaut of metal music. Let us do like Pinocchio and get inside the whale to find out what makes this album the pinnacle of Gojira.

So this is a concept record, depicting a race who tries to resurrect a dead ocean planet so it can be habitable again. This obviously has a lot of connections to what we are doing to our world today, an environmental message of what our future might be like if we do not change our way of living. It is kind of a tough subject, because while it is important, it is really easy to be too on the nose, being obnoxiously preachy about it. Fortunately, the French group does weave in their message really neatly into their story, while still being crystal clear over what they are trying to tell us.

To go together with this environmental theme, Gojira serves us with their patented style of complex progressive death metal, but this time it acts like an onion, where you find layer after layer after layer of awesome music. Every instrument helps in the building process of each song, adding some incredible depth that we did not hear in the first two record. It also helps that the production is the best one yet, highlighting each member just as much as they need to really make each track stand out. It is true, clean music poetry.

The biggest improvement from the last record is that "From Mars To Sirius" is just so god damn diverse in its delivery, not only nailing those dark, ultra heavy moments, but also manages to shine in the more ethereal moments like in "Where Dragons Dwell", "Unicorn", and "Flying Whales". It is still the heavier moments that do steal the show. "Backbone" crushes your eardrums before the following track "From The Sky" does a blood chilling scream of the title. Then we have the appropriately named "The Heaviest Matter of The Universe" that technically might not be the heaviest track of the record, but everything here comes together so insanely good that it leaves the heaviest impact on you. Let us also not forget the closer "Global Warming", where Christian Andreu and Joe Duplantier flex all of their finger muscles with this technical guitar lick that is played through most of the songs, which is just under 8 minutes long. Closes off the record in a horrific, yet cool, way.

Really, there is very little to complain about here. Some moments might be dragging on a little too much, and the 1+ hour run time is a bit on the long side, but there is no question that "From Mars To Sirius" is still a masterful record of progressive excellence, taking the listener through a journey of a life time. Gojira finally find their winning formula that they still use to this day. Yes, this album is amazing, and it does not even matter if it does sound like Korn at times even (looking at you "World To Come").

Songs worthy of recognition: From The Sky, Ocean Planet, The Heaviest Mater of The Universe, Flying Whales

Rating: 9/10 Backbones

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