Magma is the sixth release from acclaimed French metal act Gojira, and signals a shift to less complicated, slightly more commercial material than we've heard from the band in the past. Dark and moody, Magma was put together at a time when the Duplantier brothers' mother passed away, so the effects of that parental loss certainly looms over the album, the feelings of grief and sadness making their way to the listener. While a heavy album for the most part, the staccato bursts of crushing death & math metal of "Silvera" and "The Cell" are nestled amid dark, somber works like "The Shooting Star", "Yellow Stone", "Magma", and "Low Lands", where ominous riffing and a mix of haunting clean and more gruff vocals are permeated with gloomy atmosphere. Some of the tricky little guitar riffs & fills are sprinkled throughout, but never the main focus, instead the band seem to be relying on mood & atmosphere more than ever, no doubt driven by the tragedy that went on behind the scenes. Make no mistake though, there are some truly heavy passages here, like the Meshuggah inspired riffing & polyrhythms of "Only Pain", which also hints a tad at early Korn.
While nobody expected Gojira to top classics like From Mars to Sirius or The Way of All Flesh, Magma still came with high expectations seeing as it's been four years since L'Enfant Sauvage, an album that was very strong but not quite up to the greatness of its predecessors. Magma is much more of a slow grower, an album that on the first few listens seems a bit underwhelming, but reveals its power & might the more time you give to it. So while not really a Gojira classic, it's more than solid enough to satisfy their growing legions of fans, and shows the band willing to veer off into new directions and sounds.
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Track Listing
1) The Shooting Star
2) Silvera
3) The Cell
4) Stranded
5) Yellow Stone
6) Magma
7) Pray
8) Only Pain
9) Low Lands
10) Liberation