When I was in junior high, I often watched MattRach, a French guitarist, on YouTube. One time, I was going through the list of the videos he had liked. And from there it emerged, this French monster. With these live videos, the world of progressive metal opened up to me. I also came to understand that even music as extreme as this (with all the growling vocals – although very different from the teenage metalcore discussed earlier – and whatnot) can be not only aggressive but also very beautiful in the pure meaning of the word. Add the nature and spirituality themes in the lyrics that hit hard on the sensitive teenage mind on top. Gojira is still one of my favorite bands, and as I said, via them, I learnt about Opeth and Meshuggah and many more. (By all logic, Tool should be on that list as well, but I still haven't been able to get into them.) The excerpt will be the best and most emotional song on this DVD, Space Time (the studio version of which comes from Gojira's debut album, Terra Incognita).
My take on Gojira: Buy the whole discography. Every record is pure gold. The first two records – "Terra Incognita" and "The Link" – while still stylistically very diverse, pull more from "double bass drums and the lowest strings of each stringed instrument will kick your teeth in in unison" than the rest, but since then, the style has broadened even further.
influence: death & progressive metal
excerpt: Space Time (YouTube)
This post was retroactively compiled on 2024-01-19 from an old Facebook post.