GOJIRA — L'Enfant Sauvage (review)

GOJIRA — L'Enfant Sauvage album cover Album · 2012 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
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.
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