Phonebook Eater 7/10

A Fun and Heavy Record, But There's Some Deja Vu.

“L’Enfant Sauvage” is the fifth studio album by French Progressive Death Metal band Gojira, released in 2012. Their previous work has already made a great impact in the metal community, for their catchy, heavy and groovy rhythms executed with excellent musicianship and songwriting, seen especially in their sophomore release, the 2005 “From Mars To Sirius”, which incorporated a sludgy and primitive production that made the music sound so visceral and earthy. 2008’s “The Way Of All Flesh” had a much cleaner production, which gave the sound a greater Progressive Metal feel. “L’Enfant Sauvage” unfortunately feels no different from its predecessor. Same production, same kind of grooves, same kind of occasional experimentation. But the reason why this is not necessarily bothersome is because, well, it’s a formula that works.

Songwriting wise, the band has stepped down a tiny bit, because some of these songs simply don’t have the kick they should, for not being that memorable. Others however, such as the fierce and potent intro “Explosia”, “Pain Is the Master” or “the Gift Of Guilt” give us some of the best musicianship in 2012 Metal, without abandoning those catchy riffs the band are popular for. “Born In Winter” gives a nice touch of variation to the whole picture, and “The Fall” gives a strong ending to the album. The second part of the LP does in fact gain a whole lot of momentum in comparison to the first half; almost all of the tracks shine, while in the first part you’ll find good riffs here and there, but never anything that will particularly impress your memory.

It’s unfortunate that Gojira didn’t step out of their comfort zone on this one: “L’Enfant Sauvage” however ends up being a guilty pleasure, but in a completely different sense than what usually the meaning of the term is: this is a very good record nevertheless, that has much more ups than downs, because of the groovy rhythms that are always present, even though perhaps the songwriting is toned down; it’s a good listen, despite the static state in which Gojira seem to be stuck in.

UMUR "L'Enfant Sauvage" is the 5th full-length studio album by French metal act Gojira. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in June 2012. Gojira have experienced a constantly rising popularity curve since the release of "From Mars to Sirius (2005)". "The Way of All Flesh (2008)" only cemented their position as one of the leading hybrid death/thrash metal acts and they´ve toured extensively in the wake of that album, which has further helped gain them popularity and a reputation as one of the tightest playing live acts out there.

...while some artist opt to release a new album each year or maybe every second year, Gojira are not as productive, but listening to "L'Enfant Sauvage" it´s pretty obvious why that is. These guys are perfectionists. Not only have they honed they technical skills but they have also spend valuable time on songwriting details that ultimately makes "L'Enfant Sauvage" another very strong release by the band.

The music on the album pretty much continue down the same progressive hybrid death/thrash path as they´ve travelled for a couple of albums now. Sharp precision drumming, heavy rythmic groove based riffs, atmospheric sections (which often remind me of Killing Joke and their melancholic sound) and those trademark semi-growling/raw yet strangely melodic vocals by lead vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier. He probably has one of the most characteristic extreme metal vocal styles on the scene today. That mix of rawness and melodic sensitivity is rare. I´m thinking of a vocalist like Phil Anselmo in his prime. Not that Joe Duplantier sounds like Anselmo, but his vocal style features some of the same raw/melodic qualities as the former Pantera vocalist also did/does. In addition to his raw vocal delivery, Joe Duplantier´s vocals are often doubled with more melodic sounding vocals. I´m not sure if it´s vocoder created vocals, but there is a robotic quality to them.

The 11 track, 52:25 minutes long album features quality tracks throughout, but tracks like "Exlosia", "L'Enfant Sauvage", "Liquid Fire", "Pain is a Master" and "Born in Winter" (where Duplantier tries his hand at singing clean vocals and comes away pretty successful), stand out to me.

"L'Enfant Sauvage" not only features excellent musicianship and quality songwriting, but also features a strong, clear and powerful sound production to boot. All in all "L'Enfant Sauvage" is a very strong release by Gojira and a 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.

arcane-beautiful Gojira have been one of my favourite bands in the past few years. When I first bought From Mars To Sirius, it became one of my all time favourite albums. Such a powerfull album and it literaly was the most unique metal album I had ever heard. It literally sounded like it came from outer space. Their follow up, The Way Of All Flesh was a great follow up, and contained my favourite Gojira song...The Art Of Dying.

So when I heard they where releasing a new album, I automatically looked back on their past, and how epic and amazing it was. The 2 songs that where released from this album made me excited for what was to come...sadly...I was let down.

Now the album isn’t that bad. If any other band had realised it, it would be their best probably. But because your trying to follow up 2 of the best albums released in the past 10 years…yea it can be a difficult task.

One thing that grabbed my attention was that the album itself is a little bit more melodic than their previous 2, but to be honest, the power has gone away. The melodic touches to some off the riffs do give the album a certain characteristic, but it does feel like some of the Gojira trademarks have been lost. It also feels like the band have been listening to a lot of modern metal bands, and imitating their styles. But the thing was that Gojira’s uniqueness was what made the band so good. They didn’t sound like anything…ever!

Musically the band are always on par. With spectacular riffs, powerfull grooves and amazing vocals, the bands formula is as strong as ever. Sadly some of the material is lack lustre.

Lyrically the band has never been better. In fact, I was really surprised at how poetic the lyrics where. Always take the French to speak better English than English speakers can.

Production wise, the album has a very modern sound, which to be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of. The thing that attracted me to Gojira was that the production literally made the drums and guitars sounded like planets smashing into each other. Now it just sounds like everything else.

1. Explosia – A very average intro, especially for a Gojira album. Definitely no Ocean Planet, The Link or Oroborus. And the song goes on for a bit. 6/10

2. L'enfant Sauvage – One of the most melodic songs on the album. As usual, there is cool riffs and powerful moments. 10/10

3. The Axe – One of the most powerful songs on the album. Some pretty cool and kick ass moments. 8/10

4. Liquid Fire – The best song on the album. And probably one of my favourite Gojira songs. Love the use of vocoder on Joe's vocals. Has great vocals and very powerful moments. 10/10

5. The Wild Healer – This song is actually really cool. A short tapping based instrumental with some nice tribal beats. Pretty cool. 9/10

6. Planned Obsolescence – An odd song with some interesting changes. Shame it’s a bit bland still. 7/10

7. Mouth Of Kala – Anything to do with Kali, usually I love. But it's a pretty standard Goira song. Great lyrics though. 7/10

8. The Gift Of Guilt – One of the most interesting songs on the album. With a slower pace and less rhythm, the guitar bits really are pretty interesting. 8/10

9. Pain Is A Master – Another interesting moment. The eerie intro its really cool, and one of the oddest riffs is in this song. One of the best songs on the album. 9/10

10. Born In Winter – A bit slower and more eerie, but still a bit bland. 7/10

11. The Fall – A very disappointing intro. Definitely not as powerful as Global Warming or The Way Of All Flesh. 6/10

*bonus tracks

12. The Emptiness – A nice more upbeat moment. This should have been on the album. 8/10

13. My Last Creation – Pretty standard Gojira, but still should have been on the album. 7/10

CONCLUSION: It's just not the same. The power, the flair and the style of Gojira that attracted me to the band has now weakened and replaced with something, still listMoienable, but is a bit bland to me.

6.4/10