You can make a strong argument that ‘Fortitude’ is the most anticipated metal release of the year. If you’re reading this, you won’t be wondering if you should check it out – you’ll already be waiting in impatient anticipation. You’re probably wondering; just how good is it? Oh, it’s good. In fact, it’s nothing short of sensational. With this record, Gojira have proved once again that they are one of the greatest contemporary metal acts on the planet. Get your best pair of headphones on and strap in. Gojira are back.
‘Fortitude’, the French quartet’s first record since 2016’s ‘Magma’, builds on the sound of their earlier album, retaining that classic Gojira sound while still adding plenty of new ideas. It’s admirable when a band chooses to experiment more than 20 years into their career. Even more so when that experimentation is as successful as it is here.
The result is an album that is a wonderful blend of melody, atmospherics, and ferocity. The melodic sections are expansive, while the heavier sections lose none of the bite you’d expect from a Gojira release. The metal titans have expanded on the blueprint they laid out on ‘Magma’ to create something truly special and whether you prefer Gojira’s more recent material or the deeper cuts, there’ll be something on here for you.
‘Fortitude’ is the sound of four exceptional musicians at the absolute top of their game. Drummer Mario Duplantier – always a force of nature behind the drum kit – is on world beating form here, driving the tracks forward with his sharp, incisive beats. His brother Joe on lead singing duties, brings his trademark grit and power to the vocals. Joe Duplantier and guitarist Christian Andreu’s riffing is world-class across the entire record, while Jean-Michel Labadie’s basslines add grit and heft.
The album gets off to a ripper of a start, with the first three tracks taking no prisoners. Opener ‘Born For One Thing’ roars out of the speakers, a four minute blast of energy and rage; the chorus is spectacular, with the vocals low in the mix giving the track an ambient feel. On ‘Amazonia’, Gojira make use of ethereal sounds and vocals to backdrop a colossal wall of noise. The main melody is a stomper, one to get your foot tapping and your head banging, a track designed to sound mammoth live, make no mistake.
‘Another World’, the record’s lead single, is an instant classic, with an opening riff as monstrous as the Hollywood dinosaur Gojira took their name from. It’s an arena-ready song with a catchy chorus that will surely be a huge hit with fans at live shows.
Gojira then head into more expansive, experimental territory with ‘Hold On’. The track opens with eerie group vocals, over the top of drum beats and a wandering guitar line, before giving way to a louder, galloping riff with Gojira’s trademark guitar squeals over the top. There are expansive moments all over the track – not least the bridge, which combines atmospheric soundscapes with dreamlike vocals. The overall effect is nothing short of incredible.
‘New Found’ is another instant classic that is sure to be a huge crowd pleaser. It’s a heavy track that has enough incredible guitar work to please the biggest metal heads, while the chorus is one of the best, and catchiest, on the record. This will surely become a staple of Gojira’s live setlists for many years to come.
‘Fortitude’ and ‘The Chant’ combine to make the album’s centrepiece, the former an intro to the latter. The former catches you off guard on first listen, an acoustic interlude that uses percussion traditionally found in metal music. The piece has a loose, jam room feel, with a catchy vocal hook over the top which carries straight over to ‘The Chant’, a track that uses the same melodies, but with more traditional metal instrumentation, and vocals that provide a welcome change of pace to the rest of the record. These two tracks are a slow burn – they don’t stand out from the rest initially – but, over repeat listens, they get stuck in your head, and take on a hypnotic feel.
The next two tracks ‘Sphinx’ and ‘Into the Storm’ add an injection of pace, with galloping riffs aplenty. ‘Sphinx’ is classic Gojira – a heavy track that pairs bone rattling thunder with harsh vocals. ‘Into the Storm’ is full of chugging pace while vocalist Joe Duplantier acts as a blistering form on the choruses.
‘The Trails’ is a slower track that brings the pace down to a crawl. It’s an atmospheric, eerie track that is by far the most experimental on a record that’s full of new ideas – if there’s to be more of this sort of thing on future Gojira releases, it would be no bad thing. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this was the end of the record, but Gojira have one more trick up their sleeve. ‘Grind’ comes absolutely flying out of the traps with a whirlwind riff, providing a few more minutes of ferocity, before it slows down into a melodic, ethereal guitar outro to see the album out.
Gojira don’t release albums regularly – their last record, ‘Magma’, came out five years ago and ‘L’Enfant Sauvage’ came out four years earlier than that – but ‘Fortitude’ is a superb, experimental record that provides plenty for fans of the band to obsess over in the four or five years until they release a new one. Those fans will be kept very busy indeed. ‘Fortitude’ is another fine addition to an increasingly stellar back catalogue.
ASH BEBBINGTON
