A giant bright eagle has come
on me and taken away my universe
I find myself in trouble now...
I feel the end is near for me my world goodbye
people of the dead, I join you
in this confusion I don't even recall my name
there something inside I want to reveal

1. Explosia
It only takes Gojira 10 seconds to prove that they are once again back with a record that will melt your ears into a pool of bloody mess. All the classic flavours of the French titans are right where they should be – gargantually brutal riffs, cheeky pick scrapes, pounding rhythms and pulsating ambiences delivered with unwavering dedication. Fuck. Yes. The next hour is shaping up to be something very special indeed.

2. L’Enfant Sauvage
The title track is even faster. Whilst they maintain a perpetual brain-simmering heaviness, there are cleaner melodies that seem to leap out of nowhere and sit above the crushing rhythms, adding a cerebral progressive edge to their signature brand of skull-crushing metal. After three minutes comes a full-on blast of death that echoes the sheer brutality they visited on From Mars To Sirius.

3. The Axe
If Mastodon were more death metal influenced, this is what they would sound like… The Axe carries a searching, torch-bearing sense of pilgrimage with a chorus that is hellishly catchy and wouldn’t sound that out of place on Enslaved’s last record Axioma Ethica Odini. It’s a brooding journey of transcendental, dark spiritualism with background chanting that brings further gloom to this blackened religious experience.

4. Liquid Fire
Liquid Fire picks things up in tempo with apocalyptic sized riffs and Joe Duplantier’s instantly recognisable usage of guitar harmonics. The half-time break in the middle of the song is a great example of how anthemic Gojira can be when they want to.

5. The Wild Healer
The Wild Healer is a short, instrumental track that is pretty mellow for Gojira – it’s atmospheric and spacey. But you know this is just the quiet before the storm. Oh yes, there is a storm….

6. Planned Obsolescence
Planned Obsolescence is a total face-melter, echoing the gloriously heavy, fist-in-the-face noise of Morbid Angel’s Domination but with added intensity. There is another half time chorus on this scorcher that boasts an almost twisted bluesiness.

7. Mouth Of Kala
This is Gojira showing their groovey side, once again stepping out towards the progressive and not far off Mastodon’s heavier work. The blastbeat fury at the end is like what you’d hear if Opeth covered a Tool track in their own style.

8. The Gift Of Guilt
This opens with a tapping lick that is part Angus Young and part Eddie Van Halen, though there’s nothing classic rock about it. The massive chorus here could be the catchiest Gojira have ever written.

9. Pain Is A Master
Another ambient excursion off into more progressive realms. Pain Is A Master lures the listener to a false sense of security… this lullaby turns into a death metal nightmare very, very quickly.

10. Born In Winter
The shimmering structures of Born In Winter are a definite highlight on this record, sculpting evocative manifestations and lofty musical circles around the listener.

11. The Fall
The Fall starts off like something off Nine Inch Nail’s The Fragile before evolving into an acid-marinated anthem that is dark, psychedelic and sickeningly heavy. Welcome back, Gojira!