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Rating:
Well aware of the existence of a previous review of the album in question, I am about to provide an explanation for this duplication.
Firstly, to reignite the attention of the DeBaserian audience on the French band Gojira, considering that the last studio album dates back to 2008 and the work reviewed on this page even five years ago, motivated by the immense artistic depth that, in my personal opinion, the French are able to infuse into their compositions.
Secondly, because while reading the previous review of "From Mars to Sirius", I seemed to sense, especially coming from the comments of some DeBaserian users, a certain dissatisfaction in the description of the musical component. We hope to be able, on this page, to fill some gaps if there have ever been any, stating beforehand that the concepts expressed by Hibrys are largely shared by me.
Okay, enough chit-chat.....
As already mentioned, "From Mars to Sirius" was released by Listenable Records on September 27, 2005, and marks a remarkable qualitative leap compared to the already enjoyable predecessor "The Link".
Giving credit where it's due, we are in the presence of a masterpiece of furious muscularity, distorted passion, and rhythmic/compositional asymmetry. Sincerely, I have not found a better term to define the proposal of our band: while reading some reviews and posts on the web, I came across the term "Whalecore", and indeed, considering the strongly environmentalist themes of the lyrics (always of high quality and never trivial or pedantic) and the gravitational heaviness that the French are able to imprint into their songs, I don't believe there is a better one-word description for this particularly unique musical entity.
The album itself is truly challenging, of long duration (about 1 hour and ten minutes, which is an abyss for this type of proposal), heavy and immensely powerful, with a clear sensation of being crushed to the ground by an unstoppable centripetal force, dictated by the general average slowness of the pieces that are only sporadically allowed to express themselves in grindcore progressions (see "Backbone") that are truly mighty and devastating. Dissonant guitar melodies (looking at the guitar tabs, you won't see a simple power chord even if you pay for it), by the duo Joe Duplantier/Andreu, support a musical structure enhanced and profoundly marked by Mario Duplantier's drumming, finely syncopated and elaborated, extremely precise and surgical even in the thousands of variations present, all supported by the voice of Joe Duplantier himself, of clear scream/death style but absolutely personal and recognizable as well as intelligible, where the passion and emotion for the lyrics expressed can clearly be heard, such is the pathos poured out. The bass lines executed by Michel Labadie (with a beautifully distorted but absolutely distinguishable sound) have the fundamental role of bridging and facilitating the guitar dissonances to make the final product more accessible to the listener (as in the terminal part of the devastating and immensely heavy opener "Ocean Planet", a raw diamond), in short, they give a point of reference to those approaching the Gojira world for the first time.
At this point, some of those who have kindly stumbled upon this review might be wondering what artistic references these devastating Frenchmen adhere to... Well, it’s not that simple: first of all, we are in the presence of a group with a strong autochthonous personality, but if we must give an idea, however approximate, to a neophyte, then we can define them as a highly original mixture drawing from primary ingredients like the Fear Factory (but only those of "Soul of ....."), some elements from Godflesh's "Pure", from Neurosis/Isis (for the latter, I'd say "Ocean"), some reverberations from Meshuggah (more in the intricacy of the structures than in the type and execution of riffing), and a classically death base (I would say Morbid Angel from "Domination" onwards). Shake well and serve hot... like magma...
It should be noted how these guys are also capable of significantly mitigating their combative artistic inclinations by strategically inserting songs like the instrumental "Unicorn" (characterized by a repetitive yet delicate and dreamy sequence of harmonics), the vaguely seventies "World to Come" (basic arpeggio to die for, simple but extremely effective), the ever-changing "Flying Whales" that initially captivates the listener once again with soft yet incisive guitar arpeggios (overlaid with a sample of whale songs) before transforming into a very rocky song full of harmonized dissonances, and the semi title track "From Mars" (in this case, the arpeggio is performed by the bass with whispered clean vocals leading the dance). Such tracks have the ability to slightly relieve the pressure exerted by furious and muscular tracks such as "From the Sky" (I would say the most classically death track of the album), "The Heaviest Matter of the Universe" (and the title already says it all about its real musical heaviness), or the already mentioned "Ocean Planet" (a very fitting choice as the opener of the album) and "Backbone". In the final analysis, one can also see the seeds of what will happen with the subsequent discographic chapter of theirs, namely "The Way of All Flesh" (my personal album of the year 2008), in the concluding "Global Warming", characterized by a prolonged use of tapping technique as the rhythm of the song itself (something we can find in their latest work in songs like "Oroborus" and "A Sight to Behold"), as well as a greater amount of clean vocals than usual.
Ultimately, a wonderful dissonant album, absolutely recommended for your collection if you love experimentation applied to extreme metal: this is the future. And it is terrifying.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Ocean Planet (05:32)
I'm in a mental cage,
I'm locked up
Imprisoned I live,
Deathlike, sickening
Strong is your hold
On my resignation
I don't see the stars,
My memories are veiled
In fluid dreams
I fall I'm restless
Walls made of stone
Are turned into water now
Enlightened demons
Are taking me by the hand
Approaching me,
This great eye speaking
Mountainous waves
Are breaking on my despair
Awaken me but I'm still dreaming
And I just plunge
Into this sea of light
Set open the doors of soul
I'm living
Lightning struck me
I see the path I was so scared of
And fly to the stars
Conviction now increasing at last
My skin is broken
I see the smallest part of me
My mind is alive
But I'll never bow to this again
Why do they call me there
How can I fly to
All this water
I don't feel like
I could ever swim to them
Whales in the sky
I feel they're so close
Inside, and yet so far away
Burst into tears, I feel sad
My dreams aflame
The force is now away
Lie on a stone,
Drop this load and try to see
The ocean planet is in pain
02 Backbone (04:18)
Indestructible
On this rock I lie
But I'm alive for good
And I just free myself now
From all what was wrong
Break the unbreakable
All the stars
Fearlessly bright
They call me out there
Order me to face the wind
My structure's alive,
My body's on the way
Don't bow down
Before the walls
Of fear and madness
They try to counter me
And drag me down
To the ground again
Inexhaustible
The strength of fire
Is running through me
Spine like beam of light
What mortal could ever
Break this force
Unconstrained
I see at last
My backbone straighten
Thy serpent made of bones
Finally rise up
From the ground awaken
Beat your feet
On the ground now, go!
03 From the Sky (05:48)
From The Sky
At the very first sound
There was just light
And then, a storm
Of time and space
Just came and struck
Created our time
In water life
We understand
It just only began
Forced to look to the sky
And wonder why
We cannot face the fact that
We're all scared now
Of mysteries of life
There is a mask that soon will fall
Before the strong embrace
Of love and might
Of light in the dark
I go for the quest
I have to give myself the answer
Enter now this place in the wild
I can see the glade
My feeling now is growing bigger
From the sky
I do feel like no one can save me
I am so alone and yet I cried
I called for help, forsaken
But now I know
The only way is to
Understand the living
Obey the rule of light
And face the fear
Inside out!
Lost, I found there a stone
Erected in line
With one of the brightest stars
Of all the night sky vault
And I took my time
Took off the moss
Washed away the dust
And gave a new lease of life
Its' mystical force
I grab it now
And praise this lord
Of earth and stone
Make passage for souls awaken
So it returns
To where it's always been
With the gods
Now coming, I feel the love
It comes from on high
I know the words
But now I fell it inside
It grows, it's there
And all it comes from the sky
05 Where Dragons Dwell (06:54)
A deep voice is rising
From the heart of the mountain
Vibrations of the stone
I can hear in my heart
The call of instinct
The flight of the powerful
I hunger for it
It just keeps me alive
I met the dragon
In a cave by the mountain
Now I bring the evidence
The beast is alive
This ageless army
Will strike in the morning
And then a star will rise
And shine in the sky
But I grow impatient
Cannot stand the wait
And I start to dig
Within me
This tunnel to I
In this region of me
A great dragon is lying
On the wealth of a mighty world
My own world inside
I saw
I saw monsters
And I
And I started to dig within
When I
When I turn my back on them
They devour me
In this region of me
A dragon is lying there
Awake
Monster
Monsters kings
Do not scorn them
But do not fear them
Muster
Muster thy army
Dragons are the myth alive
In the heart of men
06 The Heaviest Matter of the Universe (03:57)
Lay down fall away
Lie awake
Just cannot move
My arms and legs
I'm paralyzed
Don't recall how to free
Myself from this
In the heart of the dark
My face contorted
Don't know how to reach the light
But I feel so bad
Like a freak in a cage
Open the door
Enter your heart
You go so far
Golden unworldly silence
Space flight at speed of light
I cross the clouds and colors
The black hole is calling me
I slide on the horizon
On the frontier not to cross
Black dwarf
Time's gone distorted
In the heart of the dark
A whirl of light
Enter in
The realm of nothingness
I feel the cold, my eyes are shut
My fear is slowly dying
Light years from here
Are my thoughts and cages
I can hear their moan
But now a long deep breath
Is calling
Overtaking time
And now understanding space
I feel united
I do cross light
Feel the living
Here in the center
Stands the light of love
That never can be touched
From greater silence
Shall return
07 Flying Whales (07:44)
Waters of chaos
have invaded all space
The flood on Earth again
I have to find the whales
that once did guide us
to dry lands of life
I won't despair
I'll break this dark around
Under the heavy sea
I'll search (for) the flight of whales
Beneath the seas I searched
And had a different view
Of us on earth
The sinking ship of men
But it's beyond the stars
I found the place
Where they were
And they finally came to light
Over the winds
They dwell in light
Like the arrow in the sky
I found myself on higher grounds
From up here
For I see them in flight
Now I can see the whales
Looming out of the dark
Like arrows in the sky
I can't believe my eyes
But it's true
Huge tunnel ends in light
Like banks of clouds they gather
See massive shape of flesh
Swimming giants in the clear
The mightiest comes to me
I'm on the wing, wide open
They teach me how to fly
Slowly moving in the air
They dance
So much told with no words at all
Powerful presence for only speech
Breathe
Over the winds
They dwell in light
Fly
08 In the Wilderness (07:47)
On my way
To the vision-come-true
I enter a galaxy rising
And I land on this
Brown and green old place
Whose wild is giant trees
Trees so strong
That they never can fall
Four suns alight
In silver grey sky
Wild river flows
With rage alive
Lions of fire approach me
Carved by the wind
And the fall of water
From the treetops
I can see the end of a time
Living respectful
Low your axe
And learn from the trees
Second dawn
Meet the sylvanlings
Passageways into the deep
Invitations to explore the forest
Lions gales and chambers
A tree trunk
Larger than a mountain
Stands on the top
Of this hill
Made of rock and mist
Living respectful
Low your axe
And learn from the trees
Henceforth
I will be always there
Planet earth will overcome
Men destroyed
Scorned and killed their lives
But the world is on her way
10 From Mars (02:24)
I just looked myself
Straight in the eyes and saw
That I had to move
To higher places
So I took my courage
In both hands and
I pushed off the ground
With all my might
Took off from the red place
In the sky I fly
I have lost my reason
And I've made my sense
From up there I will see
Where I'm from
And where the force of love
Will tell me now to go
But why do you say
That you are lost
If you don't even try
To find yourself
My words are a stairs
I put my feet on
And I climb through
A starless night to my place
11 To Sirius (05:37)
Now from a solar system
To another I fly
I come with life in my veins
Through darkened space I ran
I left a struggle behind
And faced the fear that's alive
I lost a world and traveled
Straight across from the sky
To find the gates of the heart
I come to sirius c
To learn from you friends of old
And wish to come into being
And behold I'm with you
I am ready now to go
The distance and even beyond
Recover all my forces
All the strength of the world
And feel the light into me
From the strenght of god
We go to the power of goddess
This place is a throne
For brightness
The age of war is over
For god's sake
They have never heard of you
"You'll never reach
This master race"
Our force sickening
Killing all the time
Human laws
Already slayed many lives
There was a streak of madness
But now I know
I see its now the only truth
The scars in me are opened
Won't you please call me beyond
Crave affection love and courage
Being courageous
And flying instead of
Falling down
Follow these instructions
I've been given
In this dream awake
There is no goal to reach now
Leviathans
No complaint at all
Dolphins from upper space
Are in front of me
In present they dwell
This is my way
I've found my home
My state of real
There is no goal to reach
This is my way
12 Global Warming (07:50)
Four hundred thousend years ago
They came from outer space
And gave us life here
We are taking everything for granted
I don't think we should do this now
And when I see the smoke all around
I feel like I'm now
From humankind down there
I feel like glaciers are my eyes
And mountains are my head
My heart is ocean
And I feel all alone
Because everybody's wrong
I feel the living
What is this thing that we call hate
And that's inside of me
Get out of here!
A world is down
And none can rebuild it
Disabled lands are evolving
My eyes are shut, a vision is dying
My head explodes
And I fall in disgrace
I hold my inner child within
And tell him not to cry
"don't fear the living"
One day you will stand as a king
And now fear can erase
This light below us
Each one of us is now engaged
This secret we all have
This truth is growing
And as a warrior I have to fight
I can already feel
The love I'll discover
I had this dream, our planet surviving
The guiding stars always growing
And all the worlds
The fates all the countries
They're all rebuilding at the same time
I never fell and always believed in
We could evolve and get older
Open your eyes and let all this flow
Now see a now hope is growing inside
We will see our children growing
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