From Mars to Sirius

Gojira, the menacing progressive death metal band from France, have more or less made a record to be remembered, for a very long time.


First things first, the name Gojira is very misleading. These guys are basically the Green Peace of extreme metal, not some kind of “destroyer of worlds” band. It greatly influences their music, not only in their lyrics, but in the themes as well, which is particularly obvious on this album.


From Mars To Sirius starts out with a crushing groove as “Ocean Planet” more or less assaults the listener. The mood has already been set for the rest of the album by now, but unlike many bands who just maintain a constant mood, Gojira decides to mix things up and have both uplifting, happy songs, but also melancholic songs, such as Where Dragons Dwell.
The crushing grooves certainly don’t stop there. Many of the songs on From Mars To Sirius have grooves- MIGHTY grooves mind you, instead of the typical blast beats you often find in Death Metal. It’s certainly a welcome change from the usual, and they have managed to perfect it with their style.
Standout tracks on this album are definitely the crushing Ocean Planet, the fast Backbone, and In The Wilderness. That’s not to say there are bad tracks on this album though, they all fit the theme and the style very well. Great songwriting on Gojira’s part.


The production of the album is more or less stellar. Very clear sound quality, with great mixes that’s sure to satisfy people who look specifically for that.
All the members are extremely proficient at what they do. The drummer is a maniac, pumping out some of the best fills you’ll ever hear, while the guitarists mix things up even more, with their “whale songs”. They basically play the guitar in a way that makes it sound like a whale. You have to hear it to understand it.
The lead singer is really good as well. He sings in many different ways throughout this record (Shrieks, growls, yells, screams and clean singing, also with some doomish spoken parts). It fits the music very well.
One could’ve wished for even more “ocean” influences than are here, but what’s there is appreciated. It makes the concept of the album, that is, global warming, much easier to understand, for us people who don’t really understand harsh lyrics that well.
The album is also extremely long for a death metal record, as death metal albums nearly never even reach 50 minutes. This album is 65 minutes, of pure awesomeness.


So what’s actually bad about this album?
Some of the riffs seem a bit uninspired, and it could’ve been more progressive than it is now. While the songs do change their mood, they usually only do it BETWEEN songs, not IN songs. However, if you see the album as 3 huge songs, it’s definitely progressive in nature.


From Mars To Sirius is an astounding achievement by Gojira. One can only hope their next album will be just as good, hey, maybe even better?