GOJIRA Fortitude | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by  Roadrunner Records on April 30th, 2021

Quick Background

Gojira are a French progressive (death) metal band, the band's lineup—consisting of brothers Joe (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Mario Duplantier (drums), Christian Andreu (lead guitar), and Jean-Michel Labadie (bass)—has been the same since the band's debut Terra Incognita in 2001. Gojira released the third album and critically acclaimed From Mars to Sirius in 2005. Since then they have been growing in popularity and putting out good albums one after the other. I personally came in contact with the band during a summer festival and after listening to "Vacuity" live I was sold.

Fortitude

Fortitude is now their seventh studio album coming out almost five years after Magma, a very good album which found the band breaking through commercially, introducing their music to a broader audience. It is a more accessible album than any of the ones before and also one where the band experimented much more and took some risks. In general terms Fortitude is natural progression from Magma and not a return to the earlier album. From the artwork which was created by Joe Duplantier, we can see that experimentations and risk taking will be part of the album. 

Out of the 11 tracks, 5 were released as singles before the album. The first one "Another World" goes back to August 2020. This is a trademark catchy Gojira track, perfect song to get the early and new fans hooked. The first three singles which are also the first tracks on the record, are some of the heaviest and coolest songs on the album. Particularly "Born For One Thing" the album opener is my favorite on the album. I love the groovy drumming intro and the drums throughout the track are just insane. The basslines underneath are also punchy. The guitarists bring some amazing guitar work. The song structure is complex and unconventional. It's a heavy and energetic "old school" Gojira song through modern lens. It's just all around one of the best songs of the year so far. "Amazonia" musically is a good balance between a pure Gojira sound and experimenting with what I think it's a Berimbau and some woodwind instruments. Now interestingly  Berimbau is not an original Amazon instrument, but brought to Brazil from Africa. In any case, it sounds really great. Those unconventional sounds are there but subtle and the drumming that goes with it is just fantastic. Another single is track nine "Into The Storm". A heavy but also catchy tune with an epic feel to it. Great song. I find it "New Found" on the same veins, the difference here being the extended song outro which makes it the longest song on the album with close to 7 minutes. 

The title track is a two minute instrumental that transitions into the fifth single "The Chant". Both share the same melody and can even be seen as one song. Here we see some risk taking and experimentation again. The intro is based on acoustic instruments and a "oh oh..." melody that is very unconventional for heavy metal. Surprisingly they take that same  melody to the "The Chant" and while at first it didn't appeal to me, I learned how to appreciate it. "Hold On" is also difficult to get into, again an example of experimenting and taking risks. The choral-like intro lasts one minute and a half, so it's long, but then the guitar riff enters and it sounds good. It is still a big sounding song with an atmospheric feel and I like the diversity that it brings. And then the song "The Trails" takes the atmospheric sound to another level, a very different song, it sounds like The Ocean, so it's pretty much a post-metal song. 

Fortitude was recorded and produced by Joe Duplantier and it sounds really good. The bass is not always easy to hear, but when it is, it makes a mark. On the other hand Mario Duplantier drumming throughout this record is great, relentless, diverse and well blended with the samples and eventual percussions. 

The Picky Guy

Musically there's not really something to complain. I must say that it's just a matter of having open mind and give it some time to get into the more innovative songs. Some of those are more accessible and slower than in the earlier records, but to me that's not a problem. Those records are great and one can always go back to them. Being already their 7th album, with their experience, creativity and curiosity, we can't expect Gojira to re-do From Mars to Sirius every 2 years. And despite all of the changes and experiments, it still sounds pretty much like Gojira. The only one other thing I can say is that I don't like to get into the politics or activism side of their music. I mean it doesn't put me off but also it doesn't interest me either.

Wrap Up Opinion 

Gojira knocked this one out of the park. A great album which will certainly head many year-end lists in 2021. They were able to masterfully combine old style Gojira with experimentation and ambience. As a result the album is diverse and super interesting. On top of it, it all comes down to great song writing. There are no bad songs and, even better, a handful of great ones. Yes, some of them are different and not as heavy, but it works. A 21st century masterpiece. I don't use this word often, but with a score of 87/100 Fortitude is already top of the decade contender for me.

SCORE: 87/100

Genre: Progressive Death Metal

Released by  Roadrunner Records on April 30th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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